H      V 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  THINKING 

AND    THEIR    RESULTS 

The  Undreamed-of  Possibilities  which  Man  may 
achieve  through  his  own  Mental  Control 


BY 


AARON   MARTIN   CRANE 


BOSTON 
LOTHROP,   LEE  &   SHEPARD   CO. 


EfrUC. 

PSYCH. 

Ufi&Atf 


Published  December,  1905. 
Set  up  and  electrotyped,  December,  1905. 
Second  impression,  January,  1906. 
Third  impression,  April,  1906. 
Fourth  impression,  September,  1906. 
Fifth  impression,  March,  1907. 
Sixth  impression,  August,  1907. 
Seventh  impression,  April,  1908. 
Eighth  impression,  September,  1908. 


Copyright,  1905, 
By  AARON   M.   CRANE. 


All  Rights  Reserved. 


Right  and  Wrong  Thinkihg 
and  Their  Results. 


Nortoooto  Qnvs 

J.  S.  Cuahing  ft  Co.  —  lierwiek.  &  Smith  Oo» 

Norwood,  Mm.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

Some  years  ago  this  book  was  born  into  thought 
by  the  perception  of  its  fundamental  principle,  and 
it  has  been  growing  ever  since.  During  the  inter- 
vening years  this  principle  and  its  allied  ideas  have 
been  presented  more  or  less  fully  in  the  form  of  in- 
dependent class  lectures  to  many  groups  of  persons. 
It  is  w,'ith  hesitation  h?±  it  is  now  offered  to  the 
public  in  its  present  form,  beciuse  it  is  still  growing ; 
but  having  seen  the  great  advantages  which  have 
come  to  many  from  the  practice  of  its  principles, 
there  arose  the  earnest  desire  to  extend  the  Oppor- 
tunity for  similar  help  to  greater  numbers. 

The  first  lesson  to  be  learned  in  the  school  of  life 
is  to  understand  one's  own  personality  or  individu- 
ality, so  as  to  estimate  it  at  its  true  value,  and  to 
be  able  to  usi  ft  for  good  and  to  avoid  using  it  for 
evil.  A  man  should  know  all  that  can  be  known 
of  the  power  which  he  is  every  day  wielding  simply 
by  being  whtt  he  is  and  by  thinking,  looking,  speak- 


IV  PREFACE 

ing,  and  acting  as  he  does.  It  is  one's  duty  to  make 
the  most  and  the  best  of  what  is  in  him;  and  he  is 
best  equipped  for  this  who  knows  himself  most 
thoroughly.  The  object  of  this  book  is  to  aid  toward 
the  accomplishment  of  this  end. 

There  appear  to  be  two  influences  in  this  world 
of  ours,  the  good  and  the  bad  or  the  harmonious 
and  the  discordant,  which  permeate  all  mankind 
and  shape  and  control  all  human  actions.  Wher- 
ever there  are  two,  if  one  is  removed,  the  other  re- 
mains ;  if  the  discordant  is  removed,  the  harmonious 
will  be  left.  Good,  the  absolutely  harmonious, 
must  be  the  enduring  and  essential  b/irause  it  is 
from  God.  Then  an  imnsvumt  part  of  the  wcork  of 
every  one  is  to  remove  the  evil  or  discordant  and 
thus  uncover  the  ood.  This  includes  the  whole 
scheme  of  reformation,  improvement,  and  progress. 

Much  of  this  book  is  devoted  to  external  matters 
which  man  can  detach  from  himself  and  throw 
away.  By  shaking  out  of  his  mind  every  cumber- 
ing thought  of  discord  and  error  he  may  disclose  to 
view  the  real  man  in  all  the  perfection  which  his 
Creator  bestowed  upon  him,  and  thi i  rise  to  that 
divine  height  of  purity  and  perfectic11  which  has 
heretofore  been  deemed  inaccessible. 

There  is  another  topic,   higher  and  even  more 


PREFACE  V 

attractive  than  this,  which  deals  with  the  divine  per- 
fection inherent  in  man  and  in  all  creation;  this  is 
to  be  the  subject  of  another  book  which  is  planned 

to  follow  this  one. 

AARON  MARTIN   CRANE. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  »AGB 

I.    Introduction i 

II.  Relation  of  Thinking  to  Bodily  Action         .        6 

III.  Intended  Actions 15 

IV.  Actions  not  Intended 22 

V.    A  General  Proposition 23 

VI.    As  seen  by  Others 35 

VII.  Mutual  Reactions  of  Mind  and  Body     .        .      51 

VIII.  Influence  of  External  Incidents     ...      60 

IX.    The  Rule 66 

X.  Discordant  Thoughts  ......      78 

XI.  How  to  control  Thinking         ....      97 

XII.    Substitution 104 

XIII.  Immediate  Action in 

XIV.  Persistence 115 

XV.    Not  always  Easy 123 

XVI.  Effect  of  the  Physical  Attitude     .        .        .127 

XVII.    All  One's  Own  Work 132 

XVIII.  Destruction  of  Discordant  Thoughts      .        .137 

XIX.    Scylla  and  Charybdis 144 

XX.    Moral  Discrimination 148 

XXI.  A  Little  Analysis  and  its  Application   .        .153 

XXII.    Habit 158 

XXIII.  The  Relation  of  Thinking  to  Health    .        .163 

XXIV.  Recapitulation  of  Principles     .        .        .        .177 
XXV.    The  Worry  Habit 186 

vii 


Vlll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGK 

XXVI.    Business  Success 196 

XXVII.    Undivided  Attention 202 

XXVIII.  Importance  of  Early  Training     .        .        .208 

XXIX.  Three  Notable  Examples       ....    216 

XXX.    The  Penalty  for  Sin 220 

XXXI.  A  Story  and  its  Lesson        ....    227 

XXXII.  The  Story  of  a  Contract     .        .        .        .236 

XXXIII.  The  Story  of  a  Note 241 

XXXIV.  A  Discussion  of  the  Stories         .        .        .    244 
XXXV.     Sensitiveness 255 

XXXVI.     Sympathy 264 

XXXVII.    Suggestion 271 

XXXVIII.    Hypnotic  Control 284 

XXXIX.    Environment 291 

XL.  Each  is  Responsible  for  Himself        .        .301 

XLI.  Thought  Control  is  the  True  Self-control    313 

XLII.  Man  the  Architect  of  Himself  .        .        .319 

XLIII.  Possibility  of  Perfection      .        .        .        .328 

XLIV.    The  Teaching  of  Jesus 340 

XLV.    A  Last  Word 361 


I U  N I V  E 


RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 
AND  THEIR   RESULTS 


INTRODUCTION 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  amount  of  atten- 
tion which  has  been  directed  in  a  broad  general  way 
to  mind  and  its  action,  and  although  the  construc- 
tive and  creative  ability  of  mind  through  thinking 
has  been  so  long  and  so  universally  acknowledged, 
yet  we  are  just  now  beginning  to  recognize  the 
close  and  direct  personal  relation  which  thinking 
bears  to  man.  The  limits  of  the  power  of  mind 
have  never  been  clearly  perceived,  but  recognition 
of  their  extent  continually  enlarges  as  knowledge 
and  understanding  increase. 

The  differences  between  ignorant  and  enlightened, 
between  savage  and  civilized,  between  brute  and 
man,  are  all  due  to  mind  and  its  action.  All  the 
multifarious  customs  and  habits  of  mankind, 
whether  simple  or  complex,  though  often  attributed 
to  other  causes,  are,  from  first  to  last,  the  direct 

i 


2  RIGHT    AND    WRONG    THINKING 

results'.  *cf  thinking.  The  unwritten  history  of  tht 
evolution  of  clothing,  from  its  rude  beginnings  in 
the  far-distant  and  forgotten  past  through  all  the 
ages  since  man  first  inhabited  the  earth,  though  at 
first  glance  seemingly  simple,  yet,  as  a  whole,  is 
wonderfully  complex  and  astonishing  in  its  par- 
ticulars. Its  story  is  only  the  story  of  the  applica- 
tion of  mind  to  the  solution  of  a  single  one  of  the 
vast  multitude  of  problems  connected  with  human 
requirements, 

It  is  true  that  our  factories  and  paiaces,  our 
temples  and  our  homes,  are  built  of  earthly  material, 
but  mind  directed  their  fashioning  into  the  vast 
multitude  of  forms,  more  or  less  beautiful,  so  lavishly 
displayed  by  architecture  in  city  and  country.  The 
multitudinous  products  of  constructive  art  which 
are  scattered  in  lavish  profusion  over  the  whole 
earth  are  marvellous  exhibitions  of  what  mind  has 
done ;  and  these  are  being  multiplied  daily. 

All  the  mechanical  triumphs  of  every  age  are 
products  of  mental  effort.  Without  these  man  would 
be  in  the  condition  of  the  animals.  It  has  been 
said  that  he  owes  his  supremacy  over  the  lower 
creatures  to  his  ability  to  construct  and  use  tools, 
but  this  also  depends  entirely  on  his  superior  ability 
to  think.     The  steam  engine  is  one  of  these  tools; 


INTRODUCTION  3 

and  the  story  of  its  creation  and  of  the  vast  amount  of 
mental  effort  which  has  contributed  to  its  evolution 
can  be  written  only  in  its  larger  parts  because  of 
the  amount  of  time  that  has  been  expended  upon  it, 
the  magnitude  of  the  work;  and  the  minuteness  and 
complexity  of  its  details. 

In  the  domain  of  the  fine  arts  more  than  elsewhere 
the  creations  are  intimately  connected  with  mental 
action  and  are  distinctly  marked  as  products  of 
mind.  Music,  vocal  and  instrumental,  the  single 
singer  or  the  multitude  in  the  chorus,  the  one  instru- 
ment or  the  great  orchestra,  the  country  boy  whistling 
among  the  woods  and  hills  or  the  grand  opera  in 
magnificent  halis  —  music  everywhere,  in  all  its 
varieties  and  types,  is  a  product  of  mental  activity 
and  is  a  most  subtle  as  well  as  most  powerful  ex- 
pression of  the  mind  of  the  composer.  The  dreams 
of  the  sculptor  which  have  been  revealed  in  marble, 
those  of  the  painter  in  the  figures  on  his  canvas,  the 
beautiful  in  all  artistic  creations  or  expressions,  are 
the  direct  result  of  the  finest  thinking  of  the  finest 
minds.  What  a  world  of  them  there  is  in  existence ! 
Yet  the  crumbling  ruins  of  the  past  point  to  greater 
worlds  of  them  which  have  been  destroyed  by  man 
and  time. 

Even  a  yet  more  important  product  of  mind  is 


4  RIGHT    AND  WRONG    THINKING 

the  literature  of  the  world ;  in  quantity,  overwhelm- 
ing; in  variety,  bewildering;  in  quality,  whether 
ancient  or  modern,  such  as  to  excite  the  intensest 
wonder  and  admiration.  There  is  no  greater 
monument  to  the  mind  of  man  than  the  things 
which  that  mind  has  produced  in  science,  philosophy, 
religion,  and  letters.  This  has  grown  like  those 
ancient  monuments  to  which  every  passer-by  added 
a  stone,  and  it  will  continue  to  grow  so  long  as  the 
human  race  exists. 

Civilization  with  all  that  the  word  implies  in 
every  one  of  its  unnumbered  phases,  its  origin, 
continuance,  progress,  and  present  condition,  is 
directly  and  exclusively  a  product  of  mind;  and 
man  owes  to  mind  and  its  action  all  there  is  in  the 
external  world  except  the  earth  and  its  natural 
products.  All  religious,  political,  and  social  organ- 
isms have  their  root  in  mind,  and  they  have  assumed 
their  present  forms  in  consequence  of  the  profound- 
est  thinking  of  untold  generations  of  men.  To  the 
same  source  man  owes  his  own  position,  which  is 
superior  to  all  else  on  the  earth  and  "  only  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels." 

Notwithstanding  the  recognition  of  all  these  facts,, 
it  has  remained  for  the  scientific  men  of  the  present 
day,  through  their  own  intellectual  attainments  and 


INTRODUCTION  5 

discoveries,  to  enlarge  immensely  upon  this  recogni- 
tion and  to  show  the  complete  supremacy  and  uni- 
versality of  mind  in  another  domain.  The  horizon 
is  rapidly  widening  in  the  direction  of  the  mind's 
relation  to  man  himself :  and,  as  a  result  of  the  more 
recent  discovery  of  facts,  man  is  beholding  undreamed- 
of possibilities  which  he  may  achieve  through  his 
own  mental  control.  From  the  vantage  ground 
already  gained,  mental  and  moral  possibilities  are 
rising  to  view  in  the  near  distance  beside  which  the 
attainments  of  this  and  all  past  ages  shrink  into 
insignificance. 

Only  in  these  more  recent  years  has  it  been  clearly 
perceived  that  mind  action  is  first  in  the  order  of 
occurrence,  and  that  it  is  the  absolute  ruler  of 
man  himself  as  well  as  of  all  these  wonderful  works 
which  mind  has  created.  Mind  is  the  motor  power 
and  governs  everything,  everywhere;  but  man  can 
control  mind,  and  therefore,  by  that  control,  he 
may  be  the  imperious  dictator  of  his  mind's  entire 
course,  and,  rising  thence  to  the  highest  pinnacle 
of  possibility,  he  may  become  the  arbiter  of  destiny 
itself. 


H 


RELATION   OF   THINKING   TO    BODIL\ 
ACTION 

Mind  is  that  which  thinks.  Thinking  is  mind 
action.  Thought  is  the  result  of  mind  action. 
This  is  a  statement  of  what  mind  does,  but  it  is 
neither  a  description  nor  a  definition  of  mind.  We 
know  about  mind  only  through  our  consciousness 
of  its  action,  but  because  of  this  consciousness  we 
know  what  we  mean  when  we  speak  of  mind  and 
say  it  is  that  which  thinks.1 

In  seeking  for  the  sources  of  activity  we  find  that 
in  ail  human  actions  thinking  is  first  in  the  order  of 
occurrence ;  that  is,  man  does  not  act  unless  he  has 
first  thought. 

A  word,  even  the  most  idle  or  habitual,  noticed  or 
unnoticed,  must  exist  in  the  mind  in  the  form  of  a 
thought  before  the  vocal  organs  can  utter  it.  Think- 
ing may  precede  utterance  only  by  a  space  of  time 

1  It  may  be  well  to  note  definitely  that  thinking  is  not  itself  a 
thing,  but  is  only  an  action.  Mind  is  the  thing,  just  as  the  hand 
is  the  thing,  and  its  motion  is  only  its  action. 

6 


RELATION   OF   THINKING   TO   BODILY   ACTION        7 

too  short  to  be  measured,  nevertheless  the  thought 
of  the  word  was  in  existence  in  the  mind  before  the 
word  could  be  spoken ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  every 
other  action.  This  statement  is  necessarily  correct 
because  an  expression,  whatever  its  form,  is  always 
the  utterance,  or  outward  indication  or  manifestation, 
of  some  intention,  emotion,  thought,  or  feeling,  and 
can  never  precede  what  it  expresses;  hence  an  act 
never  precedes  nor  outruns  thinking,  but  must 
always  follow  it. 

The  mechanic  first  plans,  and  then  he  constructs 
in  accordance  with  his  thinking.  The  architect 
may  find  defects  in  what  he  has  built  and  pull  it 
down  to  build  in  accordance  with  another  plan,  but 
such  incidents  only  afford  added  illustrations  of  the 
truth  of  the  proposition.  He  had  to  think  before  he 
built ;  the  destruction  was  the  result  of  thinking  that 
followed  the  building ;  it  preceded  the  pulling  down, 
and  other  thinking  preceded  the  rebuilding.  "  If 
there  is  one  thing  more  than  another  which  seems 
to  the  plain  man  self-evident,  it  is  that  his  will  counts 
for  something  in  determining  the  course  of  events." 
But  willing  is  the  result  of  choosing,  and  both  choos- 
ing and  willing  are  modes  of  thinking. 

This  order  of  occurrence  is  fully  illustrated  in  the 
simple  act  of  lifting  the  hand.    Contraction  of  the 


t  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

muscle  causes  the  motion  of  the  hand;  an  impulse 
from  the  nerve  causes  the  contraction  of  the  muscle ; 
some  action  in  the  brain  sends  the  impulse  along  the 
nerve;  thinking  is  the  motive  power,  and  without 
it  there  would  not  be  any  action  of  brain,  nerve,  or 
muscle.  These  are  only  parts  of  a  machine;  over 
them  all  is  the  power  of  mind  without  which  the 
machine  could  not  move;  just  as  without  the  fire 
there  could  not  be  any  steam  in  the  boiler,  and  with- 
out the  steam  there  could  not  be  any  motion  of  the 
piston,  and  without  the  motion  of  the  piston  the 
machinery  of  the  factory  could  not  move. 

Frequently  something  outside  of  the  mind  causes 
the  mind  to  act;  but  had  the  mind  not  acted,  there 
would  have  been  no  bodily  action,  or  had  the  mind 
acted  differently,  the  bodily  action  would  have  been 
different  also.  It  was  the  mental  act  which  caused 
the  bodily  action  and  gave  to  it  its  peculiar  char- 
acter. But  the  mind  may  act  independently  without 
any  provocation  or  stimulation  exterior  to  itself,  and 
the  motion  of  the  body  will  occur  just  the  same, 
showing  that  mind  action  alone  is  the  essential  in 
the  process. 

If  we  grant  all  that  may  be  claimed  for  the  influ- 
ence of  external  things  upon  the  mind,  it  still  remains 
that  the  mind  is  the  power  behind  all  else  in  moving 


RELATION  OF  THINKING   TO   BODILY  ACTION       9 

the  body  and  that  without  it  there  would  not  be  any 
motion.  Additional  and  final  proof  of  the  truth  of 
this  proposition  is  found  in  the  fact  that  if  we  remove 
the  mind,  as  in  death,  the  body  cannot  move.  The 
nerves,  muscles,  tendons,  and  bones  are  parts  of  the 
machine  —  wonderful  though  inert  —  which  the 
mind  uses.  In  itself  alone  no  portion  of  this  machine 
has  any  more  power  than  a  crowbar  when  it  is  not 
grasped  by  the  hand  of  the  laborer. 

"  All  acts  are  due  to  motive,  and  are  the  expression 
of  design  on  the  part  of  the  actor.  This  is  as  true  of 
the  simplest  as  of  the  most  complex  actions  of  ani- 
mals, whether  consciously  or  unconsciously  per- 
formed. The  action  of  the  Amoeba  in  ingulfing  a 
Diatom  in  its  jelly,  is  as  much  designed  as  the 
diplomacy  of  the  statesman,  or  the  investigation  of 
the  scientist."  *  But  motive  is  a  kind  of  thinking 
or  a  state  of  mind,  and  thus  this  statement  by  Cope, 
while  it  includes  all  the  actions  of  the  entire  animal 
kingdom  under  one  general  proposition,  declares 
that  they  are  all  due  to  mind  and  its  action. 

The  investigations  of  physiologists  show  how  sur- 
passingly wonderful  is  the  force  of  mind  when  acting 
in  connection  with  motion  of  the  hand,  even  when 

1  Cope,  Origin  of  the  Fittest,  p.  440.  The  Amoeba  is  one  of  the 
lowest  forms  of  animal  life. 


IO  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

looked  at  from  a  material  point  of  view.  The  fore^ 
arm,  considered  mechanically,  is  a  lever.  The  dis- 
tance to  the  fulcrum  from  the  point  where  the  power 
is  applied  is,  we  may  say,  an  inch.  The  distance 
from  the  fulcrum  to  the  point  where  the  weight  lies 
in  the  hand  is,  say,  fifteen  inches.  Then,  in  accord- 
ance with  mechanical  laws,  the  power  put  forth  by 
the  muscle  to  raise  the  weight  must  be  fifteen  times 
as  much  as  the  weight  itself.  An  ordinarily  strong 
man  can  raise  a  weight  of  fifty  pounds.  This  means 
that  the  mind,  acting  through  the  muscle,  in  this 
instance  exerts  a  force  equal  to  fifteen  times  fifty,  or 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  This  is  the  force, 
represented  in  pounds,  which  the  mind  exerts  in 
such  a  case. 

But  this  is  not  all.  If  this  same  muscle  which  has 
operated  under  the  force  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  should  be  removed  from  the  arm  and  one 
end  of  it  should  be  supported  from  a  beam,  a  weight 
of  fifty  pounds  attached  to  the  other  end  would  tear 
it  asunder.  This  shows  that  the  mind  not  only 
exerts  a  force  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  in 
lifting  the  weight,  but  at  the  same  time  a  nearly 
equal  force  in  holding  the  muscle  together.  A 
similar  condition  exists  in  connection  with  every 
muscular  movement  of  the  body. 


RELATION   OF   THINKING   TO   BODILY   ACTION       II 

There  is  an  intimate  and  most  wonderful  relation 
between  mind  action  and  the  action  of  the  brain  and 
nerve  tissues,  and  between  the  nerve  tissues  and  the 
various  bodily  organs.  This  relationship  is  such 
that  certain  actions  of  the  mind  set  the  nerves  and 
muscles  into  activity.  No  one  knows  how  the  mind 
affects  the  brain  to  control  it,  nor  how  the  nerve 
affects  the  muscle  either  to  contract  or  to  relax  it. 
No  one  knows  what  the  medium  is  between  the  men- 
tal and  physical  systems,  nor  even  whether  there  is 
a  medium.  We  only  know  that  after  the  mind  acts 
in  its  appropriate  way  these  other  actions  follow  in  a 
certain  order. 

There  is  an  extensive  literature  on  this  subject 
which  sets  forth  many  different  theories  and  explana- 
tions. Some  insist  that  no  connection  whatever 
exists  between  mind  and  matter,  and  therefore  they 
claim  that  it  is  too  much  to  say  that  these  actions 
stand  in  the  relationship  toward  each  other  of  cause 
and  effect ;  yet,  practically,  all  admit  that  there  will 
be  no  muscular  or  other  bodily  action  if  the  mind 
does  not  act.  This  admission  is  sufficient  because 
it  sets  forth  exactly  the  condition  which  exists  in 
connection  with  other  cases  of  acknowledged  cause 
and  consequence.  Thus,  astronomers  say  that  the 
sun  causes  the  revolution  of  the  planetary  bodies, 


12  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

but  they  have  never  been  able  really  to  show  that  any 
connection  exists  between  the  sun  and  those  bodies, 
nor  to  give  any  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  phe- 
nomenon. 

Even  if  it  be  granted  that  the  relationship  is  not 
that  of  cause  and  consequence,  but  merely  uniform 
sequence,  the  sequence  follows  substantially  the  same 
form  and  order  as  cause  and  consequence.  It  makes 
small  practical  difference  whether  we  call  it  a  chain 
of  sequences  or  a  chain  of  causes  and  consequences. 
Therefore  it  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  this  dis- 
cussion to  say  that  mental  action  is  the  cause  of 
bodily  actions  for  the  reason  that  bodily  actions 
always  follow  appropriate  mental  actions,  and  never 
occur  without  their  initiative. 

It  is  universally  admitted  that  the  facts  of  sensa- 
tion prove  the  action  of  the  body  on  the  mind,  and  in 
like  manner  the  facts  of  volition  just  as  conclusively 
prove  the  action  of  the  mind  on  the  body.  For  in- 
stance, pain  may  be  claimed  to  cause  a  movement  of 
the  body;  but  between  the  pain  and  the  movement 
was  the  mind  action  perceiving  the  pain  and  direct- 
ing those  bodily  actions.  With  this  direction  and 
adaptation  pain  has  nothing  whatever  to  do.  It 
may  be  said  that  man  eats  because  he  is  hungry, 
and  that  in  this  he  is  governed  by  physical  sensation ; 


RELATION  OF  THINKING  TO   BODILY  ACTION     1 3 

yet  the  consciousness  of  that  sensation  is  a  mental 
act  of  perception  without  which  he  would  not  eat, 
nor  would  there  follow  any  of  those  complicated 
actions  connected  with  digestion  and  assimilation. 
Thus  analyzed  it  appears  that  it  is  mind  action  which 
sets  the  whole  train  in  motion. 

In  the  normal  person  the  mental  control  of  mus- 
cular action  is  wonderfully  developed.  The  muscle 
moves  in  exact  obedience  to  the  mental  command, 
as  seen  in  the  delicacy  and  accuracy  as  well  as  the 
strength  and  force  of  the  movements.  Note  the 
forming  of  a  letter  with  a  pen  on  the  written  page, 
the  strokes  of  the  artist's  brush  upon  his  canvas,  the 
exactness  of  touch  of  the  musician's  fingers  upon 
the  keys  when  he  produces  the  precise  tone  that  is 
required  for  the  expression  of  his  music  —  every- 
where that  delicacy  and  exactness  are  desired  in  the 
muscle  they  are  produced  by  the  mental  action.  It  is 
called  the  result  of  training  the  muscle;  in  fact,  it  is 
training  the  muscle  to  obey  the  mind.  If  the  mind 
has  such  control  over  muscular  action,  why  may  not 
its  control  over  the  other  functions  of  the  body  be 
equally  influential? 

It  may  also  be  well  to  note  right  here  a  distinction 
that  has  often  been  overlooked.  The  movement  of 
the  arm  is  not  the  result  of  will  power,     A  man  may 


14  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

will  his  arm  to  move  as  much  as  he  pleases,  but 
unless  the  mind  itself  acts  in  a  manner  different 
from  simply  willing  the  arm  to  move  —  unless  the 
mind  thinks  something  entirely  distinct  in  character 
from  the  thought  of  willing  —  the  arm  remains  sta- 
tionary. Even  if  it  should  be  contended  that  the 
motion  of  the  arm  is  caused  by  will  power,  the  fact 
still  remains  that  will  power  is  mind  power  because 
willing  is  a  form  of  mental  action  and  the  result  of 
choice,  and  choice  is  itself  a  mental  action;  there- 
fore the  general  proposition  that  bodily  action  is  the 
result  of  mental  action  is  still  correct. 

These  facts,  clearly  recognizable  by  every  one, 
prove  that  the  mind  is  not  simply  a  group  of  physi- 
cal conditions  and  combinations  in  action,  nor  is  it  a 
product  of  them,  but  that  it  is  something  entirely 
distinct  from  the  physical  system  though  acting  on 
it,  controlling  it,  and  conferring  on  it  powers  which, 
in  itseif,  it  does  not  have ;  and  since  every  bodily  action 
may  be  resolved  into  elements  closely  similar  to  these 
here  considered,  if  not  identical  with  them  in  char- 
acter and  relationship,  the  proof  becomes  complete. 

That  which  thinks  is  the  master  power  which  moves, 
directs,  controls.  The  combination  of  brain,  nerves, 
muscles,  ligaments,  bones  —  these  constitute  a  most 
wonderful  machine  that  the  mind  builds  and  uses. 


m 

INTENDED   ACTIONS 

All  bodily  actions  may  be  separated  into  two 
classes,  those  intended  and  those  not  intended. 

Thinking  is  the  cause  of  all  intended  actions. 
The  accuracy  of  this  proposition  is  self-evident  be- 
cause intending,  purposing,  proposing,  or  designing  is 
in  itself  thinking,  and  this  kind  of  thinking  is  always 
the  cause  of  this  class  of  actions.  One  intends  to 
call  on  a  friend.  If  he  did  not  think  about  it,  he 
could  not  go.  Having  thought  about  it,  if  that  think- 
ing ceases,  as,  for  instance,  when  he  forgets,  then 
going  becomes  impossible.  This  illustration,  though 
simple,  is  conclusive  of  the  truth  of  the  proposition. 

That  a  man  has  forgotten  some  mental  action  or 
was  not  aware  of  it  when  it  occurred  is  no  proof 
that  it  did  not  take  place.  A  vast  number  of  actions 
are  preceded  by  unrecognized  thoughts,  but  this 
does  not  furnish  any  exception  to  the  universal  truth 
of  the  proposition.  On  the  contrary,  it  serves  to 
sustain  its  accuracy;  whether  recognized  or  not, 
the  thought  was  there  in  the  mind  doing  its  work. 

*5 


1 6  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

A  person  is  often  able  to  recall  unnoticed  thinking 
of  which  he  would  never  have  become  conscious  had 
not  some  subsequent  incident  directed  his  attention 
to  it.  Who  has  not  been  so  absorbed  in  a  book  that 
at  the  time  he  was  not  aware  of  a  conversation  going 
on  in  the  room,  or  even  of  remarks  addressed  to  him- 
self, yet  afterward  has  distinctly  remembered  hearing 
them  ?  Simple  incidents  like  this  show  that  thinking 
often  occurs  without  conscious  recognition  of  it  by 
the  thinker.  Psychologists  say  that  the  amount  of 
unrecognized  thinking  is  vastly  in  excess  of  that 
which  is  recognized. 

The  action  of  the  skilled  performer  on  the  piano 
is  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  things  that  were 
at  first  the  result  of  intended  and  clearly  recognized 
thinking  at  last  are  done  without  any  consciousness 
of  that  thinking.  With  the  beginner  every  action  is 
preceded  by  a  fully  recognized  thought.  The  posi- 
tion at  the  piano,  the  poise  of  the  shoulders  and  head, 
the  control  of  the  arms  and  hands,  the  action  of  the 
fingers,  and  just  how  they  must  be  moved  in  each 
particular  case  for  striking  each  key,  and  the  force 
of  each  stroke  —  all  these  are  the  subjects  of  con- 
scious thinking  on  the  part  of  the  student.  Not  a 
motion  is  made  without  previous  thought,  which  in- 
cludes not  only  the  thought  to  move  but  also  how  that 


INTENDED   ACTIONS  1 7 

motion  is  to  be  accomplished.  After  long-continued 
repetition  of  the  motions  included  in  the  first  and 
simpler  lesson,  when  each  thought  has,  so  to  speak, 
worn  its  own  peculiar  channel  into  the  brain  and  has 
become  so  familiar  that  consciousness  of  it  has  some- 
what waned,  then  a  more  difficult  lesson  is  under- 
taken. The  thinking  which  preceded  the  simpler 
actions  gradually  disappears,  being  displaced  or 
submerged  by  the  attention  given  to  more  difficult 
ones,  until  finally  all  conscious  recognition  of  it 
ceases.  With  each  step  the  thinking  connected  with 
the  preceding  practice  drops  gradually  out  of  sight 
until  at  last  the  performer's  conscious  thought  is  all 
directed  to  expression.  This  requires  careful  atten- 
tion to  each  of  the  many  difficult  and  more  delicate 
peculiarities  of  every  single  motion  which,  in  proper 
combination,  express  the  soul  of  music.  These 
motions  are  necessarily  preceded  by  an  immense 
host  of  unnoticed  thoughts,  because  without  them 
the  performer  would  be  motionless  and  the  instru- 
ment dumb.1     Each  step  suggests  to  the  mind  the 

1  It  is  said  that  in  rapid  piano  playing  the  finger  makes  twenty- 
four  movements  in  a  second  and  that  each  movement  involves  at 
least  three  muscular  acts,  making  seventy-two  of  these  acts  in  a 
second.  It  would  be  extremely  interesting  if  one  were  able  to 
compute  in  a  similar  manner  the  number  of  separate  thoughts 
which  preceded  each  muscular  act. 


;8  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

jcxt  one  to  be  taken,  and  thus  the  series  moves  in 
its  accustomed  order.  Each  motion  is  the  result  of 
unnoticed  thinking  which  is  as  intentional  in  its 
character  as  it  was  when  the  beginner  consciously 
and  purposely  initiated  it. 

Baldwin  records  a  remarkable  instance  of  this 
kind  of  action:  "The  case  is  cited  of  a  musician 
who  was  seized  with  an  epileptic  attack  in  the  midst 
of  an  orchestral  performance,  and  continued  to  play 
the  measure  quite  correctly  while  in  a  state  of  ap- 
parently complete  unconsciousness.  This  is  only 
an  exaggerated  case  of  our  conscious  experience  in 
walking,  writing,  etc.  Just  as  a  number  of  single 
experiences  of  movement  become  merged  in  a  single 
idea  of  the  whole,  and  the  impulse  to  begin  the  com- 
bination is  sufficient  to  secure  the  performance  of 
all  the  details,  so  single  nervous  reactions  become 
integrated  in  a  compound  reflex."  l  But  the  "  im- 
pulse to  begin"  is  itself  mental  action,  and  without 
it  no  step  of  the  performance  could  be  undertaken. 

This  "  impulse  to  begin  "  a  certain  piece  of  music 
which  has  been  performed  many  times  is  followed 
by  the  thinking  which  produces  the  first  motion,  and 
that  by  the  thinking  and  consequent  action  of  the 
second,  and  so  on  to  the  end.     The  habit  of  thinking 

1  Elements  of  Psychology,  p.  40. 


INTENDED  ACTIONS  19 

a  certain  series  of  thoughts,  each  thought  succeeding 
another  in  an  invariable  order,  becomes  so  fully 
established  by  constant  repetition  that,  once  begun, 
they  follow  each  other  in  their  regular  order  without 
the  conscious  volition  of  the  thinker.  But  if  this 
habit  has  not  been  fully  established,  or  if  it  has 
fallen  into  disuse  from  lack  of  practice,  then  diffi- 
culties arise  and  conscious  thinking  has  to  be  called 
into  action. 

This  tendency  to  do  again  what  has  often  been 
done  is  clearly  stated  by  Baldwin:  "The  thought 
of  a  movement  has  preceded  and  led  to  the  move- 
ment so  often,  that  there  is  a  positive  tendency,  at 
the  nerve  centres,  to  the  discharge  of  the  energy 
necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  act  along  the 
proper  courses."  * 

The  Italian  psychologist,  Mosso,  has  stated  the 
case  excellently.  He  says:  "Every  movement  [in 
walking]  is  performed  with  difficulty;  it  is  at  first  a 
task  painfully  learned;  gradually  it  becomes  less  a 
matter  of  reflection;  until  at  last  one  can  scarcely 
call  it  voluntary.  We  may  not  call  it  automatic, 
because  when  the  will  to  walk  is  wanting  we  do  not 
move,  but  when  we  have  once  set  out  to  walk  or  to 
make  a  journey,  we  may  go  on  for  a  long  time  with- 

1  Elements  of Psychology ',  p.  76. 


20  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

out  reflecting  in  the  least  that  we  are  walking.  .  .  . 
Many  have  experienced  such  extreme  fatigue  that 
they  have  slept  while  walking.  There  are  endless 
phenomena  proving  that  movements  that  at  first 
cost  a  great  effort  of  the  will,  become  at  length 
so  habitual  that  we  perform  them  without  being 
aware  of  it."  ■  The  "  will  to  walk,"  which  is 
thinking,  sets  in  motion  that  series  of  mind  actions 
which  results  in  walking,  and  the  mind  goes  on 
controlling  and  directing  the  machinery  of  the 
body  without  the  thinker's  active  consciousness. 
Mosso's  words  here  quoted  would  apply  with  equal 
exactness  to  any  series  of  complicated  actions.  The 
writer  does  not  consciously  think  how  he  shall  form 
his  letters  and  words  as  he  traces  them;  his  con- 
scious thought  is  engaged  with  the  idea  he  wishes  to 
express;  but  thoughts  he  is  not  aware  of  are  con- 
tinuously directing  the  motions  of  the  many  muscles 
which  move  the  pen  aright. 

Lack  of  continuity  of  sense  excitation  has  been 
recognized  by  most  people.  When  the  hand  is 
placed  in  contact  with  any  object,  there  is,  through 
the  sense  of  touch,  an  immediate  and  definite  con- 
sciousness of  certain  conditions.  If  the  hand  re- 
mains in  the  same  position,   simply  resting  there 

1  Ftar,  p.  99. 


INTENDED   ACTIONS  21 

without  effort,  the  consciousness  of  these  conditions 
gradually  disappears.  Though  the  course  of  activity 
flows  in  the  opposite  direction,  yet  it  is  clearly  recog- 
nized that  the  mind  itself  affects  the  physical  activi- 
ties very  much  in  the  same  way  that  the  sense 
excitations  affect  the  mind.  In  the  sense  excita- 
tions, continuous  action  results  in  their  disappear- 
ance from  the  mental  horizon.  May  not  the  ele- 
ments of  consciousness  which  are  aroused  by  mental 
action  fade  out  of  sight  in  a  similar  way  though  the 
mental  activity  be  as  constantly  present  as  the  physi- 
cal conditions  under  the  hand?  If  so,  this  presents 
sufficient  explanation  of  the  disappearance  from 
consciousness  of  those  thoughts  which  have  been 
made  habitual  by  frequent  repetition,  and  it  also 
explains  many,  if  not  all,  of  those  actions  which  are 
called  reflex  or  automatic. 

All  this  shows  that  "  the  thought  of  a  movement," 
or  "  the  impulse  to  begin,"  which  is  the  mental  inten- 
tion to  perform  certain  actions,  is  that  which  sets  in 
motion  the  complicated  machinery  of  the  body,  and 
its  action  could  not  occur  without  it.  Therefore  in 
every  minute  particular  the  proposition  holds  true 
that  thinking,  either  noticed  or  unnoticed,  is  the  cause 
of  all  intended  action,, 


IV 

ACTIONS  NOT  INTENDED 

Not  only  does  thinking  precede  all  intended 
human  actions,  but  it  also  precedes  all  those  which 
were  not  intended. 

A  person  does  not  often  shed  tears  because  he 
proposes  to  do  so.  Usually  tears  come  unbidden; 
frequently  after  every  possible  effort  has  been  made 
to  suppress  them ;  yet  they  flow  because  of  thinking 
which  preceded  them.  The  explanation  is  simple. 
It  is  the  office  of  the  tear  gland  to  furnish  a  fluid 
to  moisten  the  eye.  The  same  delicate  and  inti- 
mate relation  exists  between  the  mental  condition 
of  grief  and  the  action  of  the  tear  gland  that  exists 
between  other  varieties  of  thinking  and  muscular 
action.  When  the  mind  is  filled  with  thoughts  of 
grief,  increased  activity  in  the  tear  gland  follows,  its 
fluid  is  produced  in  an  unusual  and  excessive  quan- 
tity, and  the  eyes  overflow.  Thoughts  of  grief 
acting  upon  the  tear  gland  stimulate  it  to  excessive 
action  in  just  the  same  way  that  those  thoughts 


ACTIONS   NOT   INTENDED  23 

which  constitute  intention  move  the  hand.  The 
important  fact  in  this  connection  is  that  although  the 
weeping  is  not  intended,  it  is  caused  by  a  particular 
mental  action  which  precedes  it.  When  the  grief 
ceases,  the  excessive  action  of  the  tear  gland  sub- 
sides, the  tears  no  longer  flow,  and  the  facial  muscles 
return  to  their  usual  condition. 

Entirely  different  actions  follow  if  the  thinking  is 
of  a  humorous,  witty,  or  ludicrous  character.  A 
great  many  muscles  all  over  the  body,  but  particu- 
larly in  the  chest,  throat,  and  face,  are  thrown 
into  violent  spasmodic  activity  which  is  uncontrol- 
lable if  the  thinking  is  intense.  This  is  clearly  the 
unintended  effect  of  thinking,  because  it  often 
occurs  when  the  desire  not  to  laugh  is  very  strong, 
showing  that  in  such  cases  intention  plays  only  a 
subordinate  part.  The  laughter  does  not  cease 
until  the  thinking  that  produced  it  ceases,  and  it  is 
renewed  with  the  renewal  of  that  thinking.  It  is 
clear  that  these  muscles  move  in  response  to  the 
action  of  the  person's  mind,  though  without  his  in- 
tention to  move  them. 

Every  one  is  aware  of  many  physical  changes 
which  are  caused  by  changes  in  the  mental  condi- 
tions. The  mental  state  of  anger  will  make  the 
heart  beat  more  rapidly,  send  the  blood  rushing 


24  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

through  the  body  with  increased  velocity,  and 
flush  or  pale  the  face.  Any  sudden  emotion  of 
grief  or  pleasure,  unexpected  news,  either  good  or  bad, 
suspense  or  anticipation,  waiting  for  news  of  some- 
thing impending,  —  these  and  many  other  disturb- 
ing thoughts  make  the  heart  beat  faster  or  slower, 
or  even  stop  it  entirely,  according  to  the  character 
of  the  mental  action.  Thoughts  of  fear  may  cause 
a  cold  perspiration  to  break  out  over  the  whole 
body,  send  the  blood  away  from  its  surface,  or  even 
cause  such  muscular  tension  or  paralysis  that  severe 
illness  follows,  and  sometimes  death. 

The  unnoticed  glandular  changes  are  very  numer- 
ous. Propose  some  particularly  appetizing  food  to 
a  hungry  person,  and  instantly,  without  the  slightest 
intention,  the  thinking  sets  the  salivary  glands  into 
action.  All  the  acts  of  digestion,  assimilation,  and 
general  nutrition  are  of  this  kind.  It  has  been 
shown  conclusively  that  they  are  results  of  thinking, 
that  they  vary  with  the  variations  of  the  thinking, 
and  that  without  it  they  do  not  occur;  yet  they  are 
not  intended,  and  we  are  not  even  aware  of  the 
existence  of  the  larger  part  of  them,  nor  of  much 
of  the  thinking  which  produces  them. 

Recent  physiological  experiments  show  distinctly 
just  what  might  have  been  expected  from  the  com- 


ACTIONS   NOT   INTENDED  2$ 

mon  experiences  of  every  one  who  has  noticed  the 
flow  of  saliva  in  response  to  his  own  thoughts. 
When  food  that  he  liked  was  offered  to  an  animal, 
it  caused  not  only  an  abundant  flow  of  saliva,  but 
of  gastric  juice  as  well,  even  though  no  food  had 
entered  the  stomach.  More  than  that,  when  the 
kind  of  food  was  recognized  by  the  animal,  the 
character  of  the  secretion  was  adapted  to  it,  so  that 
each  variety  provoked  the  secretion  of  a  special 
kind  of  digestive  fluid.  The  better  the  animal 
liked  the  food,  the  more  copious  was  the  quantity 
of  those  fluids  which  are  necessary  to  digestion. 
It  was  not  necessary  that  the  animal  should  even 
see  or  smell  the  food.  A  purely  mental  condition 
caused  by  suggestion  or  the  association  of  acts  was 
enough,  and  it  was  shown  that  pleasure  itself  set 
the  physical  actions  into  motion.  On  the  contrary, 
when  food  which  was  objectionable  to  the  animal 
entered  the  stomach,  secretion  of  digestive  fluid  did 
not  follow.  When  communication  between  the 
brain  and  the  stomach  had  been  cut  off,  so  that  the 
mind  could  not  send  messages  to  the  stomach  and 
its  glands,  not  a  drop  of  gastric  juice  was  produced 
even  though  the  food  which  he  liked  had  been  shown 
to  him  or  had  been  introduced  into  the  stomach,  thus 
showing  that  the  presence  of  the  food  without  any 


26  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

mental  stimulus  does  not  induce  the  actions  attendant 
upon  digestion  and  necessary  to  it.1  Something 
more  than  mere  mechanical  contact  was  essential. 

These  experiments  show  beyond  question  that 
digestion  depends  entirely  upon  some  mental  pro- 
cess. Similarly,  all  bodily  actions  depend  upon 
thinking,  whether  that  thinking  is  intended  or  not; 
and  without  thinking,  or  when  the  thinking  does  not 
reach  the  organs  which  should  act,  as  when  the 
thought  effect  could  not  be  communicated  to  the 
glands  of  the  stomach,  there  is  no  bodily  action. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  there 
may  be,  and  often  is,  a  longer  or  shorter  series  of 
unnoticed  bodily  or  mental  actions  between  the 
inciting  thought  and  the  result  which  has  attracted 
attention.  The  observed  condition  may  be  at  the 
end  of  the  series  and  far  removed  from  the  thought 
that  caused  it.  This  intervention  of  unnoticed 
intermediary  incidents  renders  it  difficult,  and  some- 
times impossible,  to  discover  the  direct  connection 
between  the  final  event  and  the  thinking  that  pro- 
duced it.  Inability  to  trace  the  connection  between 
the  observed  consequence  and  its  real  cause  does 
not  destroy  the  truth  of  the  original  proposition  that 
the  cause  existed  in  mental  action. 

1  Dr.  Romme,  in  La  Revue  for  August,  1902. 


ACTIONS   NOT   INTENDED  2*] 

Every  sensitive  person  knows  how  the  mental 
state  induced  by  hearing  bad  news  will  sometimes 
interfere  seriously  with  the  act  of  digestion.  Per- 
haps the  victim  wakes  the  next  morning  with  a 
violent  headache.  His  physician  tells  him  that  it 
is  due  to  a  disordered  stomach.  The  mental  con- 
dition of  the  day  before  has  been  forgotten  by  one 
and  is  seldom  heard  of  by  the  other,  therefore  both 
insist  honestly  enough  that  the  headache  was  not 
caused  by  mental  conditions.  Yet  he  would  not 
have  had  the  headache  if  he  had  not  indulged  in 
that  discordant  thinking  which  disturbed  the  action 
of  certain  nerves;  this  disturbance  interfered  with 
the  normal  action  of  the  stomach,  which  in  its  turn 
affected  the  head.  This  is  unintended  bodily  action 
caused  by  thinking,  and  shows  how  easily  some  of 
the  incidents  are  overlooked  which  connect  the 
cause  with  the  observed  consequence. 

The  necessity  for  the  presence  and  action  of 
mind  is  also  seen  in  reflex  actions  and  those  which 
seem  to  be  automatic.  When  the  exterior  or  sur- 
face end  of  a  nerve  is  excited,  as  by  the  prick  of  a 
pin,  psychologists  say  that  this  creates  an  activity 
which  extends  along  the  fibres  of  the  ingoing  nerve 
either  to  some  central  ganglion  or  to  the  brain; 
that    certain   actions   take    place    there,  and   then 


28  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

another  impulse  is  sent  thence  along  the  outgoing 
nerve  to  the  appropriate  muscle,  producing  in  it 
the  requisite  action.  These  actions  at  the  nerve 
centre  must  be  more  or  less  complicated  and  of 
peculiar  character.  Something  must  decide  what 
physical  action  should  follow  the  recognized  external 
conditions,  and  then  it  must  select  from  all  the  other 
outgoing  nerves  the  special  one  which  shall  carry 
the  message  to  the  particular  muscle  which  should 
act,  and  must  thus  direct  and  control  the  specific 
action  which  that  muscle  shall  perform.  This  may 
be  merely  to  remove  the  hand  from  the  position  it 
occupied  when  the  finger  was  pricked,  or  it  may  be 
to  double  the  fist  and  inflict  a  blow,  or  it  may  be  to 
cause  certain  complicated  actions  which  shall  re- 
move the  offending  object  to  another  place.  This 
is  more  than  mere  mechanics.  It  is  the  action  of 
the  master  directing  subordinates  in  accordance 
with  the  recognized  requirements  of  the  situation. 

Whether  the  person  is  aware  of  it  or  not,  there 
must  be  mental  consciousness  or  recognition  of  the 
conditions  at  the  end  of  the  disturbed  ingoing 
nerve,  because  something  decides  what  is  the  ap- 
propriate action,  selects  from  many  others  the 
proper  agents  to  accomplish  it,  and  inspires  the 
action  in  those  agents.     In  every  such  case  there 


ACTIONS    NOT   INTENDED  20, 

is  selection  or  choice,  and  choice  is  itself  a  mental 
action  based  on  consciousness,  which  is  also  mental. 
Discrimination  must  govern  choice,  and  intelligence 
must  direct  the  proceedings.  It  is  only  mind  that 
examines  conditions,  decides  whether  or  not  to  act, 
selects  from  a  number  of  possibilities,  chooses  the 
kind  of  action  to  be  undertaken  by  some  one  or 
many  muscles,  and  sends  forth  its  behest  through 
the  appropriate  nerve  to  the  right  destination. 

In  every  case  the  muscular  action  is  a  manifesta- 
tion of  more  or  less  consciousness  of  surroundings, 
discrimination,  choice,  and  judgment.  What  occurs 
corresponds  exactly  to  the  mental  recognition  of 
the  conditions.  Because  of  repetition  conscious 
thinking  emerges  less  and  less  into  view  until  it 
becomes  habitual,  and  finally  it  passes  entirely  out 
of  sight,  and  the  action  is  called  automatic  or 
mechanical.  A  vast  multitude  of  tendencies 
toward  these  actions  are  inherited  from  birth,  but 
their  origin  was  in  the  thinking  of  generations  of 
ancestors. 

Thinking  which  originates  solely  in  the  mind  and 
has  no  connection  with  anything  outside  of  it,  may 
act  upon  the  nerve  tissues  and  originate  brain, 
nerve,  and  muscle  action,  just  the  same  as  when 
there  is  some  outside  incident  to  suggest  it.     Bald- 


30  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

win  says:  "Suggestion  by  idea,  or  through  con- 
sciousness, must  be  recognized  to  be  as  fundamental 
a  kind  of  motor  stimulus  as  the  direct  excitation  of 
a  nerve  organ."  *  All  the  organs  of  the  body  are 
subject  to  stimulation  by  purely  mental  states; 
that  is,  a  nerve  stimulus  may  come  from  within  in 
the  form  of  a  self-originating  act  of  the  mind.  Not 
only  this,  but  psychologists  and  physiologists  say 
that  these  thought  impulses  may  be  made  to  change 
nerve  tracks  already  formed  and  even  to  originate 
new  ones  and  thus  find  outward  expression  in  better 
forms  of  doing.  Not  only  will  the  severed  nerve 
reunite,  but  even  when  a  piece  of  the  nerve  has 
been  removed,  each  of  the  two  ends  will  send  out 
filaments  toward  the  other  until  they  are  joined, 
again,  provided  the  distance  is  not  too  great. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  purely  involuntary 
muscles,  so-called,  act  without  previous  thinking; 
but  as  already  shown,  a  vast  majority  if  not  all  of 
the  reflex  actions  are  clearly  the  results  of  intended 
actions  which  have  been  very  often  repeated.  The 
distance  from  reflex  action  to  what  is  known  as 
involuntary  action  may  be  very  short,  and  the  divis- 
ion between  them  is  never  clearly  defined  so  that 
it  is  often  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  decide  which 

1  Mental  Development  of  the  Child  and  the  Race,  p.  104. 


ACTIONS   NOT  INTENDED  31 

is  to  be  called  reflex  and  which  involuntary.  Some 
biologists,  reasoning  from  the  known  to  the  un- 
known, hold  the  opinion  that  all  such  actions  are 
consequences  of  conscious  thinking.  Their  reason- 
ing is  all  the  more  convincing  when  it  is  remembered 
that  mind  is  always  attendant  upon  life,  never 
being  found  separate  from  it,  and  that  life  is  the 
progenitor  and  creator  of  all  life;  for  life  has  never 
been  found  without  antecedent  life.  Then  mind 
acting  in  conjunction  with  life  must  be  the  power 
which  sets  the  involuntary  muscles  into  activity. 

The  heart  beats  without  our  conscious  attention, 
yet  we  know  that  its  action  is  greatly  influenced 
by  mental  conditions,  such  as  anxiety,  grief,  fear,  or 
joy.  Though  we  may  not  be  able  to  discover  any 
special  action  of  the  mind  upon  the  heart  to  keep 
it  going,  yet  when  the  mind  is  removed,  as  by  death, 
the  heart  ceases  to  act.  This  is  true  of  all  the  so- 
called  involuntary  organs,,  and  shows  that  mind 
action  of  some  sort  is  necessary  to  keep  them  in 
motion.  We  do  not  think  for  the  purpose  of  making 
the  heart  beat,  just  as  we  do  not  think  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  the  tears  flow;  but  our  thinking 
makes  them  flow  and  our  thinking  causes  the  heart 
to  beat.  In  one  case  we  are  aware  of  the  thinking, 
in  the  other  we  are  not, -just  as  the  piano  player  is 


32  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

at  one  time  aware  of  the  thinking  that  moves  his 
fingers  and  at  another  time  is  not. 

The  physical  body,  separate  from  anything  else, 
is  an  inert  material  mass,  incapable  of  originating 
any  action;  therefore  all  its  action  must  be  pro- 
duced by  something  other  than  itself.  That  which 
causes  its  action  must  be  mind. 

The  conclusion  is  unavoidable  that  thinking  pre- 
cedes and  causes  all  those  actions  which  were  not 
intended  as  well  as  those  which  were  intended. 
Since  these  two  classes  include  all  human  actions, 
it  follows  that  thinking,  or  mind  action,  is  always 
first  in  the  order  of  occurrence  and  is  related  to  the 
bodily  actions  as  a  cause  is  related  to  its  consequence. 


V 

A  GENERAL  PROPOSITION 

Thinking  is  the  cause  of  all  that  a  man  is  and 
of  all  that  he  does.  Then,  since  it  is  mind  that 
thinks,  it  follows  that  mind  is  antecedent  to  think- 
ing and  to  all  that  is  caused  by  thinking;  therefore 
mind  is  first.  Mind  stands  as  the  cause  behind  all 
which  thus  far  has  been  considered.  This  is  not 
a  new  proposition;  neither  is  there  any  mystery 
about  it.  It  is  within  the  comprehension  of  every 
one  who  has  observed  his  own  mental  actions  be- 
cause it  is  a  part  of  his  own  experience,  and  he 
finds  within  himself  the  proof  of  the  proposition. 

Up  to  this  place  the  subject  has  been  considered 
from  an  external  point  of  view  and  the  reasoning 
has  been  inductive  in  its  character.  There  is  an- 
other and  larger  method,  the  deductive,  which 
results  in  the  same  conclusions,  only  it  enlarges 
their  scope  and  makes  them  universal  in  their 
applications. 

God  is  the  one  infinite  First  Cause  and,  there- 
fore, the  cause  of  all.     As  the  one  cause,  or  Creator, 

33 


34  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

He  is  the  Creator  of  all.  In  one  of  the  aspects  in 
which  He  is  recognized  by  man,  God  is  Mind; 
therefore,  in  the  largest  and  most  inclusive  possible 
application  of  the  term,  in  the  infinite  whole  as  in 
each  particular  instance,  mind  and  mind  action  is 
first  in  the  order  of  occurrence  because  God  is 
Mind  and  He  is  the  first  actor,  and  the  originator 
of  all  that  is.  This  is  the  statement  of  a  universal 
proposition  which  includes  all  things  that  are. 

Mind  is  an  essential  of  man's  existence;  and  its 
action,  which  he  perceives  within  himself  and  calls 
thinking,  is  the  first  of  all  his  actions  in  the  order 
of  their  occurrence,  and  the  cause  of  all  the  others. 
In  this  there  is  somewhat  of  likeness  to  the  Infinite ; 
and,  though  man  and  his  activities  are  only  inci- 
dents in  the  midst  of  immensity,  yet,  in  this  respect 
at  least,  he  is  following  one  universal  order  in  obe- 
dience to  one  central  universal  principle.  Just  as 
all  that  exists  is  the  result  of  the  action  of  the  in- 
finite divine  Mind,  God,  similarly  all  that  man  does 
is  the  result  of  the  action  of  man's  own  mind. 


VI 

AS   SEEN   BY   OTHERS 

A  wise  modern  writer,  following  a  declaration  of 
Socrates,  has  said  that  we  should  never  ask  who 
are  the  advocates  of  any  teaching,  but  only,  is  it 
true?  A  statement  of  philosophy  or  principle  once 
made  clear  and  understood  is  not  strengthened  by 
appeal  to  any  authority.  While  all  this  is  undeni- 
ably true,  yet  it  is  also  true  that  the  wisest  of  men 
feel  added  confidence  in  their  opinions  when  they 
know  that  other  wise  men  agree  with  them;  hence 
any  man  may  be  excused  if  he  feels  more  comfort- 
able when  he  finds  that  others,  who  have  given  the 
subject  more  careful  and  thorough  investigation 
than  he  himself  has  been  able  to  give  it,  unite  in 
the  declaration  that  mind  action  precedes  bodily 
action  as  cause  precedes  consequence. 

President  Hall,  of  Clark  University,  is  reported 
as  saying,  before  a  session  of  the  American  Medico- 
Psychological  Society  in  Boston,  that  "the  relations 
between  the  body  and  the  emotions  are  of  the  clos- 

35 


36  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

est,"  and  "there  can  be  no  change  of  thought 
without  a  change  of  muscle."  He  also  suggests 
the  possibility  that  the  right  course  in  thinking 
might  develop  muscle  as  well  as  the  right  course  of 
exercise.  On  President  Hall's  basis,  if  the  proper 
course  of  thinking  is  maintained  the  muscles  will 
take  care  of  themselves. 

Professor  J.  M.  Baldwin,  of  Princeton,  italicizing 
his  statement,  says:  "Every  state  of  consciousness 
tends  to  realize  itself  in  an  appropriate  muscular 
movement."  1 

Professor  C.  A.  Strong,  of  Columbia  University, 
says:  "Recent  psychologists  tell  us  that  all  mental 
states  are  followed  by  bodily  changes  —  that  all 
consciousness  leads  to  action.  This  is  true  of 
desires,  of  emotions,  of  pleasures  and  pains,  and 
even  of  such  seemingly  non-impulsive  states  as  sen- 
sations and  ideas.  It  is  true,  in  a  word,  of  the 
entire  range  of  our  mental  life.  The  bodily  effects 
in  question  are  of  course  not  limited  to  the  volun- 
tary muscles,  but  consist  in  large  part  of  less  patent 
changes  in  the  action  of  heart,  lungs,  stomach,  and 
other  viscera,  in  the  caliber  of  blood-vessels  and  the 
secretion  of  glands."2 

1  Elements  of  Psychology,  p.  308. 
8  Why  the  Mind  has  a  Body,  p.  20. 


AS    SEEN   BY   OTHERS  37 

Professor  James,  of  Harvard  University,  says: 
11  All  mental  states  (no  matter  what  their  character 
as  regards  utility  may  be)  are  followed  by  bodily 
activity  oj  some  sort.  They  lead  to  inconspicuous 
changes  in  breathing,  circulation,  general  muscular 
tension,  and  glandular  or  other  visceral  activity, 
even  if  they  do  not  lead  to  conspicuous  movements 
of  the  muscles  of  voluntary  life.  Not  only  certain 
particular  states  of  mind,  then  (such  as  those  called 
volitions,  for  example),  but  states  of  mind  as  such, 
all  states  of  mind,  even  mere  thoughts  and  feelings, 
are  motor  in  their  consequences."  *  Language  can- 
not be  more  positive  or  unequivocal,  yet  later  he 
stated  the  case  with  equal  clearness  though  perhaps 
in  language  a  little  less  technical :  — 

"The  fact  is  that  there  is  no  sort  of  consciousness 
whatever,  be  it  sensation,  feeling,  or  idea,  which 
does  not  directly  and  of  itself  tend  to  discharge  into 
some  motor  effect.  The  motor  effect  need  not  al- 
ways be  an  outward  stroke  of  behavior.  It  may 
be  only  an  alteration  of  the  heart  beats  or  breathing, 
or  a  modification  of  the  distribution  of  the  blood, 
such  as  blushing  or  turning  pale ;  or  else  a  secretion 
of  tears,  or  what  not.  But,  in  any  case,  it  is  there 
in  some  shape  when  any  consciousness  is  there; 

1  Psychology,  edition  1893,  p.  5.    The  italics  are  his. 


38  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

and  a  belief  as  fundamental  as  any  in  modern 
psychology  is  the  belief  at  last  attained  that  con- 
scious processes  of  any  sort,  conscious  processes 
merely  as  such,  must  pass  over  into  motion,  open  or 
concealed."  l 

Professor  Ladd,  of  Yale,  says:  "Even  the  most 
purely  vegetative  of  the  bodily  processes  are  de- 
pendent for  their  character  upon  antecedent  states 
of  mind."  2 

Professor  Munsterberg,  of  Harvard,  said,  in  his 
Lowell  Institute  lectures,  that  the  slightest  thought 
influences  the  whole  body;  and,  further:  "There 
is  never  a  particle  of  an  idea  in  our  mind  which  is 
not  the  starting-point  for  external  discharge,"  or 
in  less  technical  language,  the  starting-point  for 
some  bodily  action.  In  illustration  he  said  that 
thinking  increases  the  activity  of  the  minute  per- 
spiration glands  of  the  skin.  This  has  been  meas- 
ured so  accurately  by  the  proper  apparatus  that  it 
is  possible  to  determine  the  activity  or  intensity  of 
a  person's  thinking  by  its  effects  upon  those  glands. 

Hudson  says:  "No  scientist  will  deny  the  exist- 
ence within  us  of  a  central  intelligence  which  con- 
trols the  bodily  functions,  and  through  the  sympa- 

1  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  1 70. 

*  Physiological  Psychology,  p.  75. 


AS   SEEN   BY   OTHERS  39 

thetic  nervous  system  actuates  the  involuntary 
muscles,  and  keeps  the  bodily  machinery  in  motion."  ' 

An  eminent  French  psychologist  has  stated  the 
conditions  correctly  regarding  fear,  and  incidentally 
of  other  emotions  as  well,  when  he  says:  "If  we  are 
ignorant  of  danger,  we  do  not  fear  it;"  and  this  is 
a  plain  statement  of  the  experience  of  every  one. 
Fear,  as  all  know,  is  a  mental  action  or  condition, 
and  therefore  it  follows  that  the  acts  caused  by 
fear  are  the  consequences  of  mental  action. 

The  whole  is  admirably  stated  in  the  declaration : 
"He  (the  psychologist)  acknowledges,  in  response 
to  a  logical  demand,  that  every  single  psychical 
(mental)  fact  has  its  physiological  counterpart." 2 
But  this  is  no  more  than  Professor  James  has  said 
in  his  book,  Talks  to  Teachers:  "Mentality  termi- 
nates naturally  in  outward  conduct,"  and  he  might 
have  added  that  this  is  unavoidable,  for  that  idea 
is  included  in  the  preceding  quotations  from  his 
pen. 

Following  in  the  same  direction,  the  great  English 
naturalist,  Romanes,  says  the  fact  of  selective  con- 
traction is  the  criterion  of  mind  and  the  indication  of 
consciousness,  and  he  finds  this  fact  of  selective  con- 

1  The  Law  of  Mental  Medicine,  p.  33. 

2  Psychology  and  Life,  p.  42. 


40  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

traction  in  the  lowest  known  creatures.1  He  says  also 
that  "all  possible  mental  states  have  their  signs."3 
These  signs  must  necessarily  be  those  of  external  phy- 
sical conditions  which  result  from  mental  states. 

President  McCosh,  of  Princeton,  says  of  emotion : 
"It  begins  with  a  mental  act,  and  throughout  is 
essentially  an  operation  of  the  mind.  Examine 
any  case  of  emotion  and  you  will  always  discover 
an  idea  as  a  substratum  of  the  whole." 

Professor  Mosso,  the  Italian  psychologist  already 
quoted,  constructed  an  apparatus  by  which  the  body 
of  a  man  could  be  balanced  in  a  horizontal  position. 
This  was  made  so  sensitive  that  it  oscillated  accord- 
ing to  the  rhythm  of  the  respiration.  He  says: 
"If  one  speaks  to  a  person  while  he  is  lying  on  the 
balance  horizontally,  in  equilibrium  and  perfectly 
quiet,  it  inclines  immediately  toward  the  head. 
The  legs  become  lighter  and  the  head  heavier. 
This  phenomenon  is  constant,  whatever  pains  the 
subject  may  take  not  to  move,  however  he  may 
endeavor  not  to  alter  his  breathing,  to  suspend  it 
temporarily,  not  to  speak,  to  do  nothing  which  may 
produce  a  more  copious  How  of  blood  to  the  brain." 

1  Quoted  approvingly  by  Baldwin  in  Menial  Development  oj 
Man,  p.  2IO. 

2  Quoted  by  Baldwin  in  Mental  Development  of  Man,  p.  222. 


AS  SEEN  BY  OTHERS  41 

He  says  of  the  same  experiment  when  the  subject 
was  sleeping:  "Scarcely  had  some  one  about  to 
enter  touched  the  handle  of  the  door,  than  the  bal- 
ance inclined  toward  the  head,  remaining  immovable 
in  this  position  for  five  or  six  or  even  ten  minutes, 
according  to  the  disturbance  produced  in  the  sleep. 
.  .  .  When  all  was  quiet,  one  of  us  would  inten- 
tionally make  a  slight  noise  by  coughing,  scraping 
a  foot  on  the  ground,  or  moving  a  chair,  and  at  once 
the  balance  inclined  again  toward  the  head,  re- 
maining immovable  for  four  or  five  minutes,  without 
the  subject's  noticing  anything  or  waking.  ...  It 
was  proved  by  my  balance  that,  at  the  slightest 
emotion,  the  blood  rushes  to  the  head."  1 

These  experiments  show  beyond  question  that  the 
slightest  possible  mental  activity  changes  the  course 
of  the  blood  and  sends  it  to  the  head  in  such  quanti- 
ties as  to  destroy  the  equilibrium  and  to  overweight 
that  end  of  the  body.  They  show  also  how  the 
slightest  thought  has  its  physical  effect,  and,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  sleeping  man,  that  the  thought 
which  is  not  perceived  and  does  not  awaken  him 
is  as  certain  to  affect  his  condition  as  the  one  of 
which  he  is  conscious. 

Dr.  William  G.  Anderson,  director  of  the  Yale 

1  Fear,  p.  97  and  following. 


42  RIGHT  AND   WRONG   THINKING 

gymnasium,  has  made  similar  observations  upon 
the  athletes  of  that  University  with  like  results.  A 
man  perfectly  balanced  on  the  table  would  find  his 
feet  sinking  if  he  went  through  mental  leg  gymnastics, 
thinking  about  moving  his  legs  without  making 
the  movements.  This  shows  that  it  is  thinking 
which  sends  the  blood  to  the  legs  even  when  they 
are  entirely  at  rest.  He  balanced  students  before 
and  after  their  written  examinations,  and  after  the 
mental  test  found  that  the  centre  of  gravity  had 
changed  toward  the  head,  varying  in  different 
cases  from  only  a  sixteenth  of  an  inch  to  almost  two 
and  a  half  inches. 

Dr.  Anderson  says:  "Experiments  comparing 
agreeable  exercises  with  those  that  are  not  so  agree- 
able showed  that  movements  in  which  men  took 
pleasure  set  in  motion  a  richer  supply  of  blood  than 
did  those  which  were  not  to  their  liking.  .  .  . 
Pleasurable  thoughts  send  blood  to  the  biain;  dis- 
agreeable ones  drive  it  away."  Not  merely  the 
thinking  but  its  character  or  quality  influences  the 
physical  actions,  and  the  old  poet  was  right  when  he 
wrote:  "In  whate'er  you  sweat  indulge  your  taste.'' 

The  stigmata  are  among  the  most  extreme  ex- 
amples of  the  action  of  thinking  in  producing  ab- 
normal physical  conditions.     St.  Francis  of  Assisi 


AS   SEEN   BY   OTHERS  43 

furnishes  the  earliest  historical  case.  His  contem- 
plation of  the  wounds  of  Jesus  was  of  such  an  intense 
character  and  so  long  continued  that  his  own  body 
finally  presented  appearances  similar  to  the  mental 
picture  which  he  had  so  long  entertained.  Not 
only  were  there  similar  wounds  in  his  hands,  in  his 
feet,  and  in  his  side,  but  the  appearance  of  nails 
in  the  wounds  was  so  realistic  that  after  his  death 
the  attempt  was  made  to  draw  them  out,  supposing 
them  to  be  really  nails.  There  have  been  something 
like  ninety  or  a  hundred  well-authenticated  cases 
of  a  similar  character  since  the  time  of  St.  Francis. 
For  a  long  while  it  was  believed  by  many  that  these 
conditions  were  results  of  self-inflicted  wounds  or 
that  the  story  of  them  was  mere  fabrication.  Some 
were  probably  fraudulent,  but  others  were  so  well 
authenticated  as  to  remove  all  doubt.  Parallel 
cases  of  physical  effects  due  to  mental  suggestion 
are  well  known.  Experiments  are  now  often  per- 
formed in  psychological  laboratories  which,  by 
means  of  mental  action,  produce  appearances 
similar  to  the  stigmata.1  If  abnormal  physical 
conditions  of  such  extreme  character  can  be  pro- 
duced by  thinking,   certainly  healthy  and  normal 

1  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  subjects  "Stigmata"  and  "Stigma- 
tkfction." 


44  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

ones  can  be  produced  and  maintained  by  the  same 
means. 

Professor  Elmer  Gates,  of  the  Laboratory  of  Psy- 
chology and  Psychurgy,  Washington,  D.C.,  showed 
the  same  motor  influence  and  effect  of  mind 
action  in  an  entirely  different  way.  He  plunged 
his  arm  into  a  jar  filled  with  water  up  to  the  point 
of  overflow.  Keeping  his  position  without  moving, 
he  directed  his  thinking  to  the  arm,  with  the  result 
that  the  blood  entered  the  arm  in  such  quantities 
as  to  enlarge  it  and  cause  the  water  in  the  jar  to 
overflow.  This  is  merely  demonstrating  by  another 
method  the  same  facts  that  were  shown  by  Professor 
Mosso  and  Dr.  Anderson. 

Professor  Gates  went  even  further  than  this.  By 
directing  his  thoughts  to  his  arm  for  a  certain 
length  of  time  each  day  for  many  days  he  permanently 
increased  both  its  size  and  strength,  and  he  in- 
structed others  so  that  they  could  produce  the  same 
effect  on  various  organs  of  the  body,  thus  demon- 
strating the  accuracy  of  President  Hall's  statement 
that  muscle  can  be  developed  by  a  proper  course 
of  thinking  as  well  as  by  exercise. 

Professor  Gates  has  shown  the  causative  char- 
acter of  thinking  in  a  long  series  of  most  compre- 
hensive   and    convincing    experiments.     He    found 


AS   SEEN  BY  OTHERS  45 

that  change  of  the  mental  state  changed  the  chem- 
ical character  of  the  perspiration.  When  treated 
with  the  same  chemical  reagent,  the  perspiration 
of  an  angry  man  showed  one  color,  that  of  a  man 
in  grief  another,  and  so  on  through  the  long  list 
of  emotions,  each  mental  state  persistently  exhib- 
iting its  own  peculiar  result  every  time  the  experi- 
ment was  repeated.  These  experiments  show 
clearly,  as  indicated  by  Professor  James's  state- 
ments, that  each  kind  of  thinking,  by  causing 
changes  in  glandular  or  visceral  activity,  produced 
different  chemical  substances  which  were  being 
thrown  out  of  the  system  by  the  perspiration. 

When  the  breath  of  Professor  Gates's  subject 
was  passed  through  a  tube  cooled  with  ice  so  as 
to  condense  its  volatile  constituents,  a  colorless 
liquid  resulted.  He  kept  the  man  breathing 
through  the  tube  but  made  him  angry,  and  five 
minutes  afterward  a  sediment  appeared  in  the 
tube,  indicating  the  presence  there  of  a  new  sub- 
stance which  had  been  produced  by  the  changed 
physical  action  caused  by  a  change  of  the  mental 
condition.1  Anger  gave  a  brownish  substance; 
sorrow,   gray;     remorse,    pink;     etc.,    showing,    as 

1  This  is  distinctly  a  case  where  none  of  the  actions  were  in« 
tended,  and  yet  were  clearly  caused  by  thinking. 


46  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

in  the  experiments  with  the  perspiration,  that 
each  kind  of  thinking  had  produced  its  own  pecul- 
iar substance,  which  the  system  was  trying  to 
expel. 

Professor  Gates's  conclusions  are  very  defi- 
nite: "Every  mental  activity  creates  a  definite 
chemical  change  and  a  definite  anatomical  struc- 
ture in  the  animal  which  exercises  the  mental 
activity."  And  again  he  says:  "The  mind  of 
the  human  organism  can,  by  an  effort  of  the  will, 
properly  directed,  produce  measurable  changes 
of  the  chemistry  of  the  secretions  and  excretions. " 
He  also  says:  "If  mind  activities  create  chemical 
and  anatomical  changes  in  the  cells  and  tissues 
of  the  animal  body,  it  follows  that  all  physiological 
processes  of  health  or  disease  are  psychologic 
processes  and  that  the  only  way  to  inhibit,  accel- 
erate, or  change  these  processes  is  to  resort  to 
methods  properly  altering  the  psychologic,  or 
mental,  processes."1  That  is,  the  most  effective 
and  best  way  to  change  these  physical  processes 
is  to  change  the  thinking.  And  again  he  says: 
"AH  there  is  of  health  and  disease  is  mind  activ- 
ity." And  once  more:  "If  we  can  know  how  to 
regulate  mind  processes,  then  we  can  cure  disease 

1  Medical  Times,  December,  1S97. 


AS   SEEN   BY   OTHERS  47 

—  all  disease."1  In  another  place  he  says: 
"Mind  activity  creates  organic  structure,  and 
organisms  are  mind  embodiments. " 2 

In  full  accord  with  this  is  Professor  Andrew 
Seth,  of  the  chair  of  Logic  and  Metaphysics  in  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  who,  at  the  close  of  a 
long  argument  showing  the  priority  of  mind,  con- 
cludes: "But  mechanism  is  thus,  in  every  sense, 
posterior  to  intelligence  and  will;  it  is  a  means 
created  and  used  by  will.  In  a  strict  sense,  will 
creates  the  reflex  mechanism  to  which  it  afterwards 
deputes  its  functions."3  But  will  is  a  mental 
action  or  condition,  therefore  mind  action  is  veri- 
tably first  in  the  order  of  occurrence. 

Cope,  in  summing  up  his  exhaustive  arguments 
on  the  subject,  clearly  and  concisely  declares  the 
priority  of  mind  and  its  creative  power  in  these 
words:  " Structure  is  the  effect  of  the  control  over 
matter  exercised  by  mind."4  A  more  definite 
statement  is  not  possible;  all  physical  structure 
is  created  and  determined  by  mind  as  its  cause. 

Christison  says:  "It  is  a  biologic  axiom  that 
function    precedes    organism;    for    while   we    may 

1  Medical  Times,  December,  1897. 

2  New  Crusade,  October,  1897,  P-  69. 
8  Maris  Place  in  the  Cosmos,  p.  105. 
*  Origin  of  the  Fittest,  p.  232. 


48  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

also  say  that  necessity  develops  function  in  much 
the  same  sense  that  we  say  that  it  is  the  mother 
of  invention,  it  is  evident  that  the  use  of  means  to 
a  given  end  implies  the  preexistence  of  a  specific 
potentiality,  having  a  plan  in  the  abstract,  for  only 
the  preexisting  can  be  the  cause  of  a  necessity. 
Thus  it  follows  that  something  of  a  mind  must  exist 
before  a  brain  can  be  formed. "  1  In  other  words,  the 
necessity  must  be  recognized  before  it  can  produce 
any  action;  but  that  recognition  of  necessity  is  the 
mental  action  which  precedes  all  the  other  actions. 

The  great  Lamarck,  the  pioneer  of  Darwin, 
says:  "It  is  not  the  organ,  that  is,  the  nature  and 
form  of  the  parts  of  the  body,  which  have  given 
origin  to  its  habits  and  peculiar  functions,  but 
it  is,  on  the  contrary,  its  habits,  its  manner  of  life, 
and  the  circumstances  in  which  individuals  from 
which  it  came  found  themselves,  which  have, 
after  a  time,  constituted  the  form  of  the  body, 
the  number  and  character  of  its  organs,  and  the 
functions  which  it  possesses." 

Cope  says:  "The  general  proposition  that  life 
has  preceded  organization  in  the  order  of  time, 
may  be  regarded  as  established."  In  connec- 
tion with  some  consideration  of  "the  law  of  use 

1  Brain  in  Relation  to  Mind,  p.  13. 


AS   SEEN   BY   OTHERS  49 

and  effort,"  he  says  that  "  animal  structures  have 
been  produced,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  animal 
movements,"  and  that,  "as  animal  movements 
are  primitively  determined  by  sensibility,  or  con- 
sciousness, consciousness  has  been  and  is  one  of 
the  primary  factors  in  the  evolution  of  animal 
forms."  He  adds  further  on:  "The  origin  of 
the  acts  is,  however,  believed  to  have  been  in  con- 
sciousness. "  *  All  this  points  to  the  one  fact  that 
mind  was  the  originator  of  organic  structure, 
because  consciousness  is  an  action  of  mind. 

Evans,  discussing  the  initial  activities,  says  the 
same  thing:  "In  the  germ  of  the  animal  body, 
as  in  the  seed  of  the  plant,  there  is  the  living  idea 
of  the  future  organism.  And  that  idea  forms  the 
body  after  the  pattern  of  itself.  It  is  function 
(or  idea)  that  creates  the  appropriate  organ,  and 
not  the  organ  that  makes  the  function.  For  in- 
stance, the  heart  is  made  to  beat,  and  this  action 
commences  before  its  tissues  are  formed,  even  when 
it  is  only  a  mass  of  protoplasmic  jelly.  So  it  is 
always  the  function,  the  idea,  which  creates  its 
organic  expression.  Thus  it  is,  and  of  necessity 
must  be,  in  regard  to  the  whole  body."  2 

1  Origin  of  the  Fittest,  pp.  422-425. 

2  Primitive  Mind- Cure,  p.  125. 


50  RIGHT  AND   WRONG   THINKING 

This  array  of  authorities  might  be  increased 
indefinitely.  Enough  have  been  quoted  to  show 
great  unanimity  of  opinion  on  the  fundamental 
proposition  that  thinking  is  first  in  the  order  of 
occurrence  and  that  bodily  actions  follow  thinking 
as  consequence  follows  cause. 


vn 

MUTUAL  REACTIONS  OF  MIND  AND  BODY 

Mental  and  physical  actions,  though  abso- 
lutely distinct,  are  most  intimately  connected. 
As  day  and  night  are  closely  joined  by  the  inter- 
mingled light  and  darkness  of  twilight,  so  are  the 
mental  and  physical  activities  of  human  beings, 
yet  they  are  as  clearly  distinguishable  from  each 
other  as  light  from  darkness.  In  this  chapter 
they  are  represented  as  entirely  separate  for  the 
purpose  of  attaining  a  clear  understanding  of  their 
mutual  relations.  They  always  occur  in  the  fol- 
lowing order :  — 

First.  Mind  action,  or  thinking,  noticed  or 
unnoticed,  precedes  all  other  action. 

Second.  Mind  action  is  always  followed  by 
physical  or  bodily  action  of  some  kind,  whatever 
may  be  the  explanation  of  the  connection  or 
relation  between  the  two. 

Third.  The  mind  perceives  this  resultant 
bodily  action  or  condition.1 

1  Professor  Strong  in  his  book,  Why  the  Mind  has  a  Body,  p.  318, 
says :  "  The  sequences  of  physical  events  upon  mental  are  as  uni- 

51 


52  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

Fourth.  This  second  mental  action  unites 
with  the  first  and  already  existent  mental  action 
or  condition.  The  sum  of  both,  in  its  turn,  acts 
on  the  physical  in  the  same  way  that  the  first  did, 
and,  by  a  force  increased  by  the  added  impulse 
of  the  second,  it  increases,  intensifies,  or  otherwise 
changes  the  resultant  physical  actions  and  conditions. 

That  is  to  say,  the  person  becomes  aware  of  the 
changed  physical  condition  consequent  upon  his 
first  thinking,  and  the  mental  state  thus  produced 
is  added  to  the  one  already  in  existence.  Thus 
a  new  mental  condition  is  set  up  composed  of  the 
original  thought  which  produced  the  first  bodily 
action  and  of  the  other  thought  which  succeeded 
that  bodily  action.  In  their  turn  these  two  com- 
bined again  act  upon  the  body  with  the  increased 
force  of  their  combination.  In  this  way  the  men- 
tal and  physical  actions  follow  one  another  until 
something  occurs  to  arrest  the  progress  or  change 
the  course  of  the  mental  action.1 

form  as  those  of  mental  events  upon  physical,  volition  being  as 
regularly  followed  by  movement  as  stimulus  by  sensation." 

1  An  order  of  occurrence  introducing  other  elements  might  be 
stated  as  follows:  (i)  mind,  the  thinker;  (2)  thinking,  or  mind 
action;  (3)  the  thought  or  idea,  the  result  of  thinking;  (4)  choice, 
the  result  of  combination  and  comparison  of  thoughts;  (5)  will, 
the  determination  to  act;  (6)  action.  But  this  analysis  does  not 
interfere  with  the  above  order  nor  weaken  it. 


MUTUAL   REACTIONS   OF   MIND  AND  BODY        53 

It  appears  very  clearly  from  the  foregoing  analy- 
sis that  mental  actions  and  conditions,  in  every 
case,  precede  and  cause  all  bodily  actions  and 
conditions.  It  is  not  only  mental  action  which 
originates  bodily  action  in  the  first  place,  but  it 
is  mental  action  which  afterward  increases  or 
intensifies  the  bodily  action;  and  it  is  through 
the  mind's  recognition  of  bodily  conditions,  and 
not  otherwise,  that  the  bodily  actions  become  the 
occasion  for  further  bodily  changes. 

As  has  already  been  said,  the  mind  may  origi- 
nate thought  within  itself  independent  of  any 
suggestion  from  an  external  source,  and  it  is  there- 
fore correct  to  say  that  we  often  "feel"  pure 
thought;  that  is,  we  recognize  the  changed  phys- 
ical conditions  following  that  thinking  which 
had  no  cause  outside  of  the  mind.1  This  is  neces- 
sarily the  case  because,  as  Professor  James  says, 

1  This  mental  consciousness  of  the  new  bodily  conditions  which 
have  been  caused  by  thinking  constitutes  what  we  call  "feeling"; 
and  a  person  speaks  as  accurately  when  he  says,  "  I  feel  sad  because 
of  the  loss  of  a  friend,"  as  when  he  says,  "  I  feel  hurt  because  of  a 
blow."  In  both  cases  the  words  are  used  to  designate  the  mental 
consciousness  of  certain  new  physical  conditions,  and  include  in  their 
meaning  both  the  conditions  and  the  consciousness  of  the  changes. 
In  one  case  it  is  thinking  that  has  changed  the  bodily  conditions; 
in  the  other  it  is  thinking  also,  but  we  attribute  the  change  to  the 
blow, 


54  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

1  'All  mental  states  are  followed  by  bodily  activity 
of  some  sort."  That  it  was  thinking,  even  though 
unnoticed,  which  caused  the  feeling  and  its  peculi- 
arities is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  if  thoughts  con- 
sciously in  the  mind  are  changed,  the  feelings  will 
change  with  the  change  of  thought.  It  is  think- 
ing alone  which  originates  feeling  and  afterwards 
becomes  aware  of  it.  The  mind  even  notes  its 
own  action  as  well  as  the  actions  of  the  vari- 
ous portions  of  the  body  and  of  external  things; 
and  each  of  these  three  may  cause  further  action 
in  the  mind,  to  be  followed  by  other  and  consequent 
action  in  the  body. 

The  originating  mental  action,  the  first  in  the 
series,  being  almost  or  quite  instantaneous,  is 
often  entirely  unnoticed  by  the  thinker;  but  this 
failure  to  perceive  it  does  not  change  the  fact  of 
its  existence,  nor  prevent  its  legitimate  result  from 
taking  place  in  the  body.  Because  we  are  not 
always  aware  of  the  initial  or  originating  action  of 
the  mind,  and  because  of  the  consequent  undue 
prominence  which,  for  this  reason,  is  usually  given 
to  those  physical  conditions  which  constitute  the 
second  action  in  the  series,  the  erroneous  opinion 
is  entertained  that  physical  action  is  sometimes 
an  originating  cause.     It  is  true  that  bodily  condi- 


MUTUAL   REACTIONS   OF  MIND  AND   BODY        55 

tions  affect  mental  actions  when  the  mind  takes 
note  of  them,  just  the  same  as  when  the  mind 
takes  note  of  any  action  or  condition  external  to 
the  body;  but  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  if  the  mind  does  not  take  note  of  those  bodily 
conditions,  no  further  bodily  changes  will  take 
place;  besides,  in  every  case  the  bodily  con- 
dition, whether  noted  by  the  mind  or  not,  is 
itself  the  result  of  some  mental  action  which 
preceded  it. 

This  order  of  occurrence  may  be  illustrated  by 
the  case  of  the  man  and  the  bear,  (i)  The  man 
has,  stored  in  his  mind,  certain  ideas  regarding 
the  dangerous  character  of  bears.  (2)  When  he 
sees  a  wild  bear  in  the  woods,  these  ideas  recur 
and  thoughts  of  danger  (fear)  dominate,  if  they 
do  not  obliterate,  all  other  thinking.  (3)  As  a 
consequence  of  this  course  of  thinking,  and  prob- 
ably without  being  conscious  at  the  time  of  any 
mental  action  whatever,  he  decides  instantly  that 
the  proper  thing  is  to  remove  himself  from  the 
presence  of  the  bear  as  soon  as  possible;  (4)  and 
therefore  he  runs.  The  running  is  a  physical 
action  resulting  from  the  preceding  and  somewhat 
complicated  mental  actions.  If  he  had  not  had 
those   previous   thoughts   about   the   character   of 


56  RIGHT  AND  WRONG  THINKING 

bears,  or  if  he  had  not  become  aware  of  the  pres- 
ence of  the  bear  (and  this  is  a  mental  action),  he 
would  not  have  run.  That  thinking  which  caused 
fear  was  a  necessary  precedent  to  the  running. 
(5;  As  he  runs,  his  mind  notes  the  new  bodily 
conditions  attendant  upon  his  running,  and  these, 
being  discordant,  increase  the  discordant  thinking 
already  in  his  mind.  Although  his  running  began 
because  of  his  fear-thought,  yet  his  running  in- 
creases his  fear  and  he  is  more  scared  because  he 
runs.  (6)  The  new  mental  condition  of  fright 
occasioned  by  his  mental  perception  of  the  physi- 
cal action  of  running  is  added  to  the  fear  he  had 
before,  and  a  panic  follows.  (7)  But  when  he 
perceives  that  he  has  put  such  a  distance  between 
himself  and  the  bear  that  he  is  safe  (here  also  is 
mental  action  resulting  in  the  mental  conclusion) 
this  thought  of  safety  takes  the  place  of  his  former 
thoughts,  (8)  and  he  stops  running. 

Or  the  condition  might  be  worse;  on  becoming 
conscious  of  the  nearness  of  the  bear,  and  remem- 
bering the  bad  things  he  has  believed  about  bears, 
his  mental  condition  may  be  so  intense  as  to  induce 
paralysis  and  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  move. 
The  intensity  of  his  fear,  increased  by  his  recogni- 
tion of  his  inability  to  move,  may  cause  all  physical 


MUTUAL  REACTIONS   OF  MIND  AND  BODY        57 

action  to  cease.  The  man  is  thus  frightened  to 
death.     Thinking  killed  him. 

Looking  at  the  subject  from  the  purely  physical 
point  of  view,  the  physiologist  tells  us  there  are 
two  kinds  of  nerve  fibres,  connected  at  their  inner 
ends  by  ganglia,  each  kind  having  entirely  differ- 
ent duties.  Professor  James  sets  this  forth  very 
definitely  and  clearly  in  his  Introduction  to  Psy- 
chology, page  7,  where  he  says:  — 

"  Anatomically,  therefore,  the  nervous  system 
falls  into  three  main  divisions,  comprising  — 

" (1)    the  fibres  which  carry  the  currents  in; 

"  (2)  the  organs  of  central  redirection  of  them; 
and 

"  (3)    the  fibres  which  carry  them  out. 

"  Functionally,  we  have  sensation,  central  reflection, 
and  motion,  to  correspond  to  these  anatomical 
divisions." 

The  fibres  which  are  included  in  Professor 
James's  first  division  are  those  which  bring  to  our 
consciousness  the  news  from  the  outside  world, 
as  the  prick  of  a  pin,  the  feeling  of  the  object  on 
which  the  hand  rests,  the  sound  of  the  locomotive 
whistle,  the  sight  of  an  animal,  or  any  one  of  the 
numberless  external  things  of  which  our  senses 
tell  us.     The  second  division,  or  "organs  of  cen- 


58  RIGHT  AND  WRONG  THINKING 

tral  redirection,"  i.e.  the  brain  and  ganglia,  oi 
nerve  centres,  receive  the  news  from  without  and 
change  what  might  otherwise  be  mere  unintelli- 
gent mechanical  action  into  actions  that  can  only 
be  explained  by  the  intervention  of  intelligence 
giving  its  orders  for  the  various  activities  wThich 
are  to  take  place.  Every  ganglion  is  an  organ 
where  mind  comes  in  contact  with  materiality  to 
control  it  or  to  be  influenced  by  it,  according  to 
the  mental  discipline  which  the  mind  has  received. 
This  is  the  point  where  the  mental  appears  to 
touch  the  material  to  control  it.  Lastly,  the  fibres 
of  the  third  division  carry  the  orders  to  those 
organs  which  are  to  act  and,  in  compliance  with 
mental  direction,  set  up  in  them  the  requisite 
activity. 

Professor  Ladd,  of  Yale,  in  the  following  tech- 
nical language,  describes  very  accurately  these 
actions  and  offices  of  the  nerves  in  producing  our 
awareness  of  external  things  and  our  succeeding 
physical  actions:  — 

"To  know  that  the  mechanical  or  chemical 
action  of  stimuli  on  the  end  organs  of  sense  starts 
a  mysterious  molecular  commotion  in  the  axis- 
cylinders  of  the  centripetal  nerves,  and  that  this 
commotion   propagates   itself,   as   a  process  of  an 


MUTUAL   REACTIONS   OF   MIND  AND   BODY        59 

uncertain  character,  to  the  central  nervous  mass, 
and  there,  as  a  process  yet  more  mysterious,  lays 
the  physical  basis  for  a  special  forth-putting  of  the 
life  of  conscious  sensation;  ...  to  know  these 
things,  and  the  grounds  on  which  they  rest,  is  to 
be  scientific  as  respects  physiological  and  psycho- 
physical questions  of  the  most  important  kind."1 

1  Introduction  to  Philosophy,  p.  60. 


VIII 
INFLUENCE    OF    EXTERNAL    INCIDENTS 

Thinking  is  the  initial  act  of  all  human  actions, 
but  external  incidents  in  many  cases  precede  think- 
ing and  provoke  it.  Whenever  the  external  sug- 
gestive incident  is  taken  into  consideration,  the 
order  of  occurrence  is  as  follows :  — 

First.     The     external    incident     presents     itself. 

Second.  This  is  followed  by  thinking  of  some 
kind. 

Third.  Some  bodily  action  takes  place  which 
is  the  result  of  that  thinking. 

Fourth.  Then  occur  the  events  which  follow 
in  their  natural  order. 

We  see  the  incident,  we  think  about  it,  we  act; 
and  then  follow  the  events  consequent  on  that 
action.  The  factor  governing  our  action  and 
deciding  its  character  is  the  thinking  and  not  the 
occurrence.  It  is  an  error  to  believe  that  the 
incident  is  the  governing  power.  We  fall  into 
this  error  because  we  fail  to  note  the  part  played 
by   thinking. 

60 


INFLUENCE  OF  EXTERNAL  INCIDENTS  6l 

Suppose  a  frightened  horse  has  escaped  from 
his  driver  and  is  running  toward  a  little  child 
at  play  in  the  street.  Several  persons  see  the 
impending  accident.  One  of  these,  with  vivid  im- 
agination, but  not  directing  his  mental  actions  at 
all,  pictures  to  himself  all  the  horrors  that  may 
happen  and  is  paralyzed  by  fear.  Another  thinks 
only  of  himself  and  his  own  peril  and  stands  still 
or  removes  himself  beyond  all  possible  danger. 
Yet  another  throws  his  arms  about,  gesticulating 
wildly,  perhaps  screams.  All  he  does  arises  from 
his  own  mental  distraction  and  adds  to  the  con- 
fusion and  consternation  already  in  progress. 
Had  another  of  those  present  been  so  absorbed 
in  other  affairs  that  he  did  not  see  the  runaway 
horse,  he  would  not  have  been  disturbed  by  it,  nor 
would  he  have  taken  any  action  in  relation  to  it. 
Another,  seeing  exactly  the  same  that  the  others 
see,  is  actuated  by  an  entirely  different  line  of 
thinking.  " Quick  as  thought,"  he  estimates  the 
distance  and  speed  of  the  horse,  his  own  possi- 
ble speed  and  his  distance  from  the  child,  decides 
there  is  a  chance  for  successful  action,  springs 
to  the  rescue,  and  snatches  the  child  from  danger. 

In  the  illustration  we  have  (i)  the  external  sug- 
gestive   incident    of    the    runaway    horse,    (2)   the 


62  RIGHT   AND  WRONG    THINKING 

thinking  of  each  person,  and  (3)  his  consequent 
bodily  action. 

Although  the  action  in  each  case  was  connected 
with  the  same  incident,  yet  it  took  its  essential 
character  from  the  thinking  and  not  from  the 
incident.  This  is  without  exception.  Between 
the  incident  or  suggestion  and  the  action  is  always 
thinking.  Without  this  thinking  there  could  not 
be  any  action.  Neither  the  incident  nor  any  sug- 
gestion decides  what  the  action  shall  be.  The 
thinking  does  that.  This  is  true  of  all  bodily 
actions  whether  great  or  small,  important  or 
trivial,    observed  or  unobserved. 

In  the  case  under  consideration  the  actions  of 
the  persons  who  were  present  varied  because  their 
thinking  varied;  the  initial  difference  was  in  their 
thinking.  Each  saw  the  same  thing  that  the 
others  saw,  and  if  the  incident  had  been  the  gov- 
erning and  directing  power,  each  would  have  done 
the  same  things  that  the  others  did.  Had  a  multi- 
tude been  present,  there  would  have  been  as  many 
kinds  of  action  as  there  were  kinds  of  thinking. 

Let  two  persons,  walking  in  a  pasture,  come 
unexpectedly  upon  a  group  of  cattle  feeding.  One 
of  these  persons  has  followed  a  course  of  think- 
ing which  has  made  him  a  lover  of  animals,  and 


INFLUENCE  OF  EXTERNAL  INCIDENTS  63 

he  is  pleased,  interested,  and  views  them  with 
delighted  attention.  The  thinking  of  the  other 
has  been  habitually  turned  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. His  thoughts  about  them  have  been  those 
of  fear,  and  now  these  recur  to  his  mind,  and  he 
is  rilled  with  alarm.  The  actions  of  the  two  per- 
sons are  as  different  as  their  thinking.  One 
approaches  the  cattle  with  pleasure;  the  other 
flies  from  them  in  terror.  He  does  not  understand 
that  his  sense  of  danger  is  all  because  of  his  own 
thinking,  but  believes  it  is  because  of  the  cattle. 
If  the  cattle  had  been  the  real  cause,  the  other 
person  would  have  been  as  fearful  as  he  was.  In 
the  same  way  we  attribute  the  cause  of  our 
own  faults  to  others  when  it  is  really  within 
ourselves. 

An  extreme  illustration,  but  one  which  has 
occurred  in  actual  life  and  which  shows  the  extent 
to  which  the  power  of  thought  has  been  carried, 
is  furnished  by  the  inhabitants  of  India.  The 
man-eating  tiger  is  an  object  of  the  greatest  terror 
to  the  majority  of  them,  and  they  go  to  his  jungle 
only  in  large  numbers  and  with  every  kind  of 
weapon  at  their  command.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  man,  whose  thinking  relative  to  the  tiger  is  of 
a  contrary  sort,  goes  into  the  jungle  alone  without 


64  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

any  weapons  and  stays  there  unharmed.  If  those 
men  who  so  fear  the  tiger  would  practise  this  man's 
course  of  thinking,  they,  too,  would  be  in  the 
same  condition  as  he  is  and  would  be  able  to 
do  the  things  which  he  does.  A  change  of  men's 
thinking  would  revolutionize  the  attitude  of  the 
race  toward  animals,  and  of  animals  toward  the 
race. 

Herein  is  the  reason  why  some  people  do  with 
impunity  what  would  be  impossible  for  others  to 
do,  or  what  they  would  be  greatly  injured  by  do- 
ing. The  difference  is  popularly  attributed  to 
temperament,  physical  conditions,  constitutional 
characteristics,  or  some  other  personal  peculiarity. 
It  is  really  due  to  states  of  mind  —  to  thinking  — 
the  thinking  which  each  habitually  does  whether 
noticed  or  unnoticed;  this  is  often  the  result  of 
education  or  habit,  and  the  right  habit  can  be 
created  by  continuous  right  thinking. 

It  does  not  need  any  further  discussion  to  show 
that  our  feelings  and  emotions  are  not  caused, 
as  we  ordinarily  think,  by  something  external  to 
ourselves;  they  are  caused  by  our  own  mental 
condition.  If  our  thinking  had  been  different,  all 
our  succeeding  actions  would  have  been  different 
also.     This  has  been  recognized  by  the  wise  ones 


INFLUENCE   OF   EXTERNAL   INCIDENTS  65 

here  and  there  all  down  the  stream  of  time.  Shake- 
speare says : — 

"  The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves,  that  we  are  underlings." 

—  not  in  things  outside  of  us,  whether  near  or 
remote,  but  in  our  own  thinking,  therefore  in  our- 
selves. More  than  seven  hundred  years  ago  good 
old  St.  Bernard  said:  " Nothing  can  work  me  dam- 
age except  myself;  the  harm  that  I  sustain  I  carry 
about  with  me  and  am  a  real  sufferer  but  by  my 
own  fault."  In  the  principles  here  set  forth  are 
both  the  confirmation  and  the  explanation  of  his 
statement.  The  fault  is  solely  in  the  thinking. 
We  may  change  our  thinking  and  thus  change 
both  our  course  and  our  conditions. 

The  cause  of  danger  from  our  emotions  lies 
within  ourselves;  it  is  useless  to  try  to  run  away 
from  it  because  we  carry  it  with  us  as  we  run. 
The  recluse  carries  within  his  own  mind  the  cause 
of  his  difficulties,  and  this  is  why  monasticism  has 
always  been  a  failure  and  always  will  be.  It  is 
not  the  temptation  but  the  man's  own  thought 
in  connection  with  it  that  ruins  him.  In  every 
instance  it  is  not  the  external  incident  but  the 
man's  own  thinking  which  directs,  controls,  and 
decides  what  his  course  shall  be. 


IX 

THE   RULE 

For  the  purposes  of  further  discussion  all  think- 
ing may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  harmonious 
and  discordant. 

"Each  brings  forth  after  its  kind."  This  is  the 
substance  of  a  declaration  contained  in  one  of  the 
oldest  writings  in  the  world,  and  is  only  another 
form  for  the  philosophic  proposition  that  the  cause 
always  exists  in  its  consequence,  which  is  exempli- 
fied as  a  fact  wherever  life  and  action  have  been 
observed.  Then  the  character  of  the  cause  must 
determine  the  character  of  its  consequence,  and 
consequences  must  correspond  to  causes.  Since 
thinking  is  the  initial  of  all  human  action  and  is 
causative  in  its  character,  therefore  right  or  harmo- 
nious thinking  must  produce  right  or  harmonious 
conditions,  and  erroneous,  evil,  or  discordant  think- 
ing must  produce  erroneous,  evil,  or  discordant 
conditions.  Consequently,  control  of  the  thinking 
is  of  the  very  first  importance  because  it  is  control 

66 


THE   RULE  67 

of  causes,  and  control  of  causes  is  control  of  the 
consequences  which  are  to  result  from  those  causes. 

The  farmer  plants  corn,  and  corn  springs  up  and 
grows.  The  young  of  animals  are  of  their  own  kind. 
Even  in  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  which  might 
seem  to  furnish  something  different  if  not  contrary, 
the  same  principle  prevails,  for  evolutionists  tell  us 
that  activity  produces  changes  and  conditions  cor- 
responding to  its  own  character.  Exercise  of 
strength  in  the  arm  produces  more  strength  in  the 
arm;  exercise  of  skill  in  the  fingers  results  in  more 
skill  in  the  fingers,  and  so  on  through  the  whole 
list.  Mental  training  produces  mental  ability  of 
the  same  kind  as  the  training.  Inactivity  results 
in  atrophy,  while  a  new  form  of  activity  is  held  not 
only  to  develop  increased  activity  of  the  organ  used 
but  even  a  new  organ. 

This   principle   has   long   been   recognized   in   a 

limited  way,  as  seen  in  the  old  adage,  "  Laugh  and 

grow  fat,"  and  in  Shakespeare's  ulean  and  hungry 

Cassius."     With  the  same  import  he  says :  — 

"  To  mourn  a  mischief  that  is  past  and  gone 
Is  the  next  way  to  draw  new  mischief  on ;  " 

but  the  conditions  are  even  more  positive,  direct, 
and  immediate  than  these  statements  indicate. 
In  a  very  general  way  it  is  recognized  that  grief, 


68  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

fear,  and  anger  shorten  life,  and  that  sometimes, 
when  extreme  in  their  intensity,  they  kill  instantly; 
while  contentment,  peace,  and  satisfaction  produce 
beneficial  effects  and  tend  directly  and  strongly  to 
prolong  life.  Anxiety,  doubt,  and  despair  paralyze. 
Bitterness,  greed,  lust,  jealousy,  envy,  and  the  like 
cause  men  to  commit  all  kinds  of  wrongful  and 
criminal  acts,  including  even  murder  itself. 

Such  thoughts  stamp  their  baleful  impress  on  form 
and  feature,  and  when  habitual  or  constant  they 
leave  their  permanent  disfigurement.  "Even  a 
momentary  thought  of  anger,  anxiety,  avarice,  lust, 
fear,  or  hate  distorts  the  features,  impairs  respira- 
tion, retards  or  quickens  the  circulation  of  the  blood, 
and  alters  its  chemical  composition."  *  These  re- 
sults, the  same  in  kind  as  the  thinking  that  produces 
them,  are  too  widely  known  and  appreciated  to  need 
elaboration  or  comment.  Good  produces  good; 
evil  produces  evil;  and  this  always,  without  ex- 
ception. 

It  is  unfortunate  that,  until  recently,  the  larger 
tendency  has  been  to  study  the  evil  thoughts  and 
their  results  more  than  the  good  ones;  but  the 
general  proposition  will  not  be  disputed  that  good 
thoughts  produce  results  the  opposite  of  those  pro- 

1  Tyner,  The  Living  Christ,  p.  194. 


THE   RULE  69 

duced  by  the  evil  thoughts.  "Love  worketh  no 
ill,"  is  a  truism  in  the  negative  form  that  no  one  is 
disposed  to  dispute,  whatever  one  might  be  inclined 
to  say  of  the  same  proposition  in  the  affirmative 
form:  "Love  worketh  only  good."  Similar  things 
may  be  said  of  all  good  or  harmonious  thoughts. 

It  is  true  that  sometimes  a  result  which  is  not  good 
appears  to  have  been  caused  by  good  thoughts. 
Especially  is  it  so  with  good  intentions.  In  all  such 
cases,  if  the  causes  are  accurately  analyzed,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  evil  came  from  some  unobserved 
ill  which  was  connected  with  the  good.  Thus, 
ignorance  often  results  in  erroneous  judgment  con- 
cerning the  character  of  the  object  sought  or  the 
means  employed. 

As  to  the  effects  of  erroneous  thought  on  the 
body,  we  have  the  authoritative  utterances  of  ac- 
knowledged scientific  observers.  President  Hall 
says:  "The  hair  and  beard  grow  slower,  it  has 
been  proved  by  experiment,  when  a  business  man 
has  been  subjected  to  several  months  of  anxiety. 
To  be  happy  is  essential.  To  be  alive,  and  well, 
and  contented  is  the  end  of  life,  the  highest  science 
and  the  purest  religion." 

Professor  Gates  made  some  very  interesting  ex- 
periments in  this  direction.     He  provided  a  spring 


70  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

regulated  to  maintain  an  even  degree  of  resistance, 
and  so  arranged  as  to  register  the  number  of  times 
it  had  been  pressed  down.  A  man  was  required 
to  make  depressions  of  this  spring  with  his  finger 
until,  from  exhaustion,  the  finger  refused  to  act. 
This  was  repeated  until  Gates  was  able  to  determine 
the  average  number  of  depressions  which  the  man 
could  make  under  ordinary  circumstances  before 
exhaustion  occurred.  Then,  at  different  times  after- 
ward, he  was  asked  to  think  about  some  subject 
which  would  cause  discordant  thoughts,  such  as 
the  saddest  thing  that  ever  happened  to  him,  or  the 
man  he  most  hated,  and  on  one  occasion  he  was 
asked  to  read  Dickens's  story  of  the  death  of  Little 
Nell.  After  much  thinking  on  such  a  topic,  so  that 
his  mind  was  filled  with  the  thoughts  which  it  sug- 
gested, he  was  required  to  depress  the  spring.  The 
average  number  of  depressions  possible  under  such 
mental  conditions  was  very  much  less  than  he  had 
previously  made  when  his  mind  was  in  its  usual 
condition.  On  the  contrary,  harmonious  thoughts, 
as  of  love,  peace,  or  anything  good,  raised  the  num- 
ber of  depressions  above  the  average  in  a  similar 
large  proportion.  A  great  number  of  experiments 
persistently  showed  similar  results. 
All   this   seems   very   wonderful   because   of   the 


THE  RULE  71 

manner  in  which  it  is  presented,  but  it  is  of  the  same 
character  as  indicated  by  the  ordinary  experience 
and  observation  of  every  one.  There  are  multi- 
tudes of  similar  incidents  in  everyday  life.  Who 
has  not  noticed  that  far  less  physical  or  mental 
weariness  or  exhaustion  follows  an  evening  thor- 
oughly enjoyed,  no  matter  how  hard  at  work  one 
may  be,  than  follows  the  same  length  of  time  if 
engaged  in  some  enforced  or  disagreeable  occupa- 
tion ?  In  one  case  the  thinking  is  harmonious,  and 
in  the  other  it  is  discordant. 

In  direct  connection  with  this  idea  Professor 
James  says:  "I  suspect  that  neither  the  nature 
nor  the  amount  of  our  work  is  accountable  for  the 
frequency  and  severity  of  our  break-downs,  but 
that  their  cause  lies  rather  in  those  absurd  feelings 
of  hurry  and  having  no  time,  in  that  breathlessness 
and  tension,  that  anxiety  of  feature  and  that  solici- 
tude for  results,  that  lack  of  inner  harmony  and 
ease,  in  short,  by  which  with  us  the  work  is  so  apt 
to  be  accomplished."  *  The  break-down  does  not 
come  so  much  from  the  work  as  from  the  discordant 
thoughts  attending  it.  Uncertainty,  anxiety,  worry, 
fear,  break  a  man  down,  but  he  can  endure  an 
enormous    amount   of   labor   if,    instead    of    these 

1  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  214. 


72  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

thoughts,  his  mind  is  filled  with  calmness,  assurance, 
courage,  and  confidence. 

By  an  examination  of  its  effects  upon  the  system 
Professor  Gates  undertook  to  discover  the  character 
of  those  substances  which  he  obtained  by  condensa- 
tion of  the  breath  of  his  subjects.  The  brownish 
precipitate  from  the  breath  of  angry  persons  when 
administered  to  either  men  or  animals  caused 
stimulation  and  excitement  of  the  nerves.  Another 
substance  produced  by  another  kind  of  discordant 
thinking,  when  injected  into  the  veins  of  a  guinea- 
pig  or  a  hen,  killed  it  outright.  He  gives  his  con- 
clusions on  this  point  with  definiteness  and  preci- 
sion: "Every  emotion  of  a  false  and  disagreeable 
nature  produces  a  poison  in  the  blood  and  cell 
tissues."  He  sums  up  his  results  in  the  statement: 
"My  experiments  show  that  irascible,  malevolent, 
and  depressing  emotions  generate  in  the  system 
injurious  compounds,  some  of  which  are  extremely 
poisonous;  also  that  agreeable,  happy  emotions 
generate  chemical  compounds  of  nutritious  value, 
which  stimulate  the  cells  to  manufacture  energy."  ■ 

Only  one  specific  case  from  ordinary  life  will  be 
cited.  It  is  chosen  from  a  host  of  others  because 
it  is  extreme  as  well  as  typical,   and  because  its 

1  The  Art  of  Mind  Building,  p.  4. 


THE   RULE  73 

authenticity  cannot  be  questioned.     Many  similar 
incidents  are  recorded  in  medical  books. 

The  mother  was  strong,  healthy,  vigorous,  mus- 
cularly  well  developed,  and  not  especially  sensi- 
tive, nor  nervously  organized,  but  rather  the  con- 
trary. Her  young  babe  was  in  perfect  health. 
Something  occurred  which  threw  the  mother  into  a 
fit  of  violent  anger.  Shortly  afterward  her  infant 
was  hungry,  and  she  gave  it  her  breast.  The  little 
one  was  soon  after  attacked  with  spasms  and  died 
in  convulsions  within  a  few  hours.  It  is  acknowl- 
edged by  the  highest  authority  that  this  was  the 
direct  result  of  the .  mother's  anger.  It  does  not 
need  Professor  Gates's  experiments  to  show  that 
she  had  poisoned  her  child.  The  mental  state  of 
anger  produced  an  active  poison  which  found  its 
way  to  the  mother's  milk  and  killed  the  babe.  In- 
cidents of  a  similar  kind  pointing  to  the  same  con- 
clusion, though  differing  in  degree  as  the  mental 
states  varied,  have  long  been  matters  of  observation 
by  medical  authorities.1 

1  At  the  Vermont  State  Agricultural  Experimental  Farm,  similar 
conditions  are  shown  to  prevail  among  animals.  The  milk  of  a 
certain  cow  showed  four  hundred  and  eighty  points  with  little  va- 
riation for  several  successive  days.  The  cow's  udder  was  scratched 
with  a  pin,  at  which  she  was  irritated  and  more  or  less  frightened. 
In  all  other  ways  she  was  treated  as  nearly  as  possible  just  as  she 


74  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

If  discordant  thoughts  bring  about  such  discordant 
results,  harmonious  thoughts  must  produce  har- 
monious results  of  corresponding  intensity.  In- 
stances will  be  found  in  profusion  if  sought  for. 
The  only  difficulty  attending  the  search  arises  from 
the  fact  that  people  are  usually  trained  to  conceal 
their  emotions  by  restraint  of  the  outward  expression. 

All  this  is  not  so  very  new  as  it  may  at  first  appear. 
We  read  in  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon:  "By  what 
things  a  man  sinneth,  by  these  he  is  punished," 
showing  that  at  least  a  fragment  of  this  thought 
was  recognized  by  one  of  the  old  sages  three  thousand 
years  ago.  Not  far  from  the  same  time,  perhaps 
earlier,  —  the  dates  are  uncertain,  —  one  of  the  wise 
old  Buddhists  of  India  said:  "All  that  we  are  is 
the  result  of  what  we  have  thought;  it  is  founded 
on  our  thoughts;  it  is  made  up  of  our  thoughts. 
If  a  man  speaks  or  acts  with  an  evil  thought,  pain 
follows  him  as  the  wheel  follows  the  foot  of  him  who 
draws  the  cart." 

Although  this  is  very  strong  language,  yet  it  is  so 
reasonable  that  it  should  not  create  surprise.     That 

had  been  on  the  preceding  days.  At  the  next  milking  her  milk 
showed  only  four  hundred  points,  a  falling  off  of  over  seventeen 
per  cent.  Men  should  he  kind  to  the  animals  under  their  care  for 
economical  reasons,  if  for  no  others;  but  what  about  the  healthful 
quality  of  milk  produced  under  disturbing  conditions  ? 


THE   RULE  75 

the  consequence  partakes  of  the  nature  of  its  cause 
is  a  principle  appearing  in  all  experience.  In  each 
case  the  physical  conditions  are  of  the  same  kind  as 
the  mental  states  which  caused  them.  Discordant 
thinking  debilitates  and  poisons  the  system;  har- 
monious thinking  strengthens  and  nourishes  it. 

On  the  moral  plane  the  situation  is  even  more 
obvious  because  that  deals  with  actions  which 
were  intended.  A  man  may  be  angry  with  his 
neighbor  and  hate  him.  This  is  a  mental  condition; 
or,  as  McCosh  would  say,  an  emotion  caused  by  a 
mental  act.  Its  result  is  apparent  to  every  observer 
in  his  treatment  of  the  neighbor.  His  mental  at- 
titude toward  another  person  may  be  just  the  re- 
verse of  this,  and  it  results  in  another  and  a  distinctly 
different  kind  of  conduct.  The  mental  condition 
of  a  person  may  make  him  covet  strongly  the  prop- 
erty of  some  one  else,  and  his  judgment  (which  is 
the  result  of  mental  action)  being  unbalanced,  he 
steals;  while  another  man,  with  well-balanced 
judgment,  and  therefore  thinking  another  kind  of 
thoughts,  obtains  the  article  he  desires  by  honest 
means.  These  contrary  courses  of  action  can  only 
result  from  two  kinds  of  thinking;  and  they  are 
just  as  apparent  in  the  highest  actions  in  the  moral 
scale  as  in  the  lowest. 


76  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

After  all  has  been  said  that  can  be,  the  whole 
may  be  summed  up  very  briefly.  Although  they 
may  follow  one  another  very  rapidly,  yet  two  thoughts 
of  opposite  character  cannot  occupy  the  mind  at 
the  same  time.  Each  kind  of  thinking  produces 
results  of  exactly  its  own  character.  If  one  kind  is 
excluded,  the  other  will  present  itself.  If  a  person 
would  avoid  discordant,  physical,  mental,  or  moral 
conditions,  let  him  empty  his  mind  of  all  discordant 
thoughts  which  create  such  conditions,  fill  it  with 
harmonious  ones,  and  cultivate  them.  Thinking 
is  causative;  if  the  discordant  cause  is  excluded 
from  the  mind,  its  evil  consequences  will  not  be  pro- 
duced. The  rule  for  conduct  necessitated  by  these 
propositions  is  most  obvious  and  simple :  — 

Cease  thinking  discordant  thoughts. 

This  rule  is  an  expression  of  the  principle  of  re- 
nunciation, a  principle  as  old  as  the  race;  but  it 
strikes  at  the  root  of  all  human  actions  instead  of 
dealing  with  the  topmost  branches  and  leaves,  as 
rules  generally  do;  and  it  also  avoids  all  possible 
interference  of  one  person  with  another.  Renun- 
ciation of  evil,  as  expressed  in  numberless  forms  of 
"Thou  shalt  not,"  has  been  taught  in  one  way  or 


THE    RULE  77 

another  from  the  earliest  times.  The  method  of 
avoidance  has  always  held  a  prominent  place  in 
ethical  and  moral  teaching.  The  two  contrary 
aphorisms,  "Avoid  the  wrong"  and  "Do  the  right," 
are  bound  together  by  a  principle  too  strong  to  be 
broken.  Either  includes  the  other,  so  that  at  last 
the  two  are  only  one,  both  in  theory  and  in  practice. 
The  morality  of  avoidance  of  wrong  and  practice 
of  right  is  so  axiomatic  that  it  instantly  forces  itself 
upon  the  conscience  of  every  one  who  would  become 
better  himself,  or  who  would  aid  others  to  become 
better.  Compliance  with  this  rule,  which  goes 
down  into  the  deeps  of  man's  nature  and  deals 
with  the  primal  causes  of  all  human  actions,  will 
easily  and  thoroughly  accomplish  all  desirable  re- 
sults. 


X 

DISCORDANT  THOUGHTS 

The  rule  set  forth  in  the  last  chapter  is  vital, 
for  it  strikes  at  the  very  root  of  all  evil.  How  then 
may  its  requirements  be  complied  with?  The 
first  step  toward  this  object  is  to  decide  what  thoughts 
are  discordant. 

The  wonderful  subtlety  of  these  thoughts  often 
hides  their  true  character  so  that  many  persons  who 
entertain  them  are  not  aware  of  their  real  nature. 
Some  pay  so  little  attention  to  the  subject  that  dis- 
cord continually  rules  their  minds.  Besides,  large 
classes  of  thoughts  which  are  discordant  are  popu- 
larly held  to  be  admirable  and  therefore  are  care- 
fully cultivated,  and  those  who  do  not  harbor  them 
are  censured.  This  does  not  change  results.  All 
such  errors  inevitably  lead  to  greater  confusion. 
The  list  of  discordant  thoughts  is  long,  and  if  one 
sets  about  the  work  of  their  exclusion,  he  will  be  led 
into  a  recognition  and  understanding  of  their  char- 
acter and  quality  that  will  far  surpass  any  verbal 

78 


DISCORDANT  THOUGHTS  79 

explanation  which  it  is  possible  to  make ;  yet  defini- 
tions are  of  advantage,  especially  in  the  beginning. 

Of  course  anger,  hate,  greed,  lust,  envy,  jealousy, 
and  all  malevolent  thoughts  are  at  once  recognized 
as  discordant.  To  these  must  be  added  grief  and 
its  attendants,  regret  and  disappointment;  fear, 
doubt,  and  uncertainty,  with  their  sense  of  respon- 
sibility, anxietv,  worry,  and  despair;  and  condem- 
nation of  all  kinds,  including  self-condemnation, 
with  its  self-consciousness,  self-abasement,  shame, 
and  remorse. 

All  sinful  or  erroneous  thoughts  are  discordant 
in  their  nature,  and  all  discordant  thoughts  are 
erroneous,  though,  in  the  correct  meaning  of  the 
word,  not  all  discordant  thoughts  are  sinful. 

One  error  seriously  influencing  our  decisions 
regarding  the  character  of  our  thinking  arises  from 
the  fact  that,  by  many,  a  lesser  degree  of  discordant 
thinking  is  held  to  be  different  in  character  from  its 
more  extreme  manifestation.  The  character  of  a  men- 
tal condition  does  not  change  with  any  change  in  its 
intensity.  An  act  remains  the  same  in  its  character 
and  in  the  character  of  its  consequences  regardless 
of  ignorance,  misunderstanding,  or  any  erroneous 
opinion  about  it  or  connected  with  it.  Thinking 
which  is  held  to  be  reprehensible  if  intense  has  the 


80  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

same  character  in  its  milder  forms  and  also  when 
mingled  with  thinking  of  another  kind,  even  though 
we  deceive  ourselves  into  the  opinion  that  it  is  praise- 
worthy in  the  lesser  degree  or  when  in  combination 
with  other  thinking. 

We  might  as  well  say  that  if  a  weight  does  not 
reach  a  given  amount,  it  is  something  else  besides 
weight,  or  that  it  does  not  have  any  effect,  as  to  say 
that  the  milder  degree  of  discordant  thinking  has 
changed  it  to  something  other  than  what  it  was 
when  more  intense,  and,  therefore,  that  it  does  no 
harm.  A  ton  is  a  ton,  and  a  pound  is  a  pound, 
and  both  are  the  same  in  kind ;  each  acts  in  the  same 
way  in  its  due  proportion.  If  fifty  pounds  would 
break  down  a  support,  twenty-five  would  seriously 
weaken  it,  and  ten  or  even  one  would  proportionately 
reduce  its  power  of  resistance. 

Mental  conditions  are  just  as  uniform  in  their 
character  and  action.  Anger  of  any  degree,  or  in 
any  of  its  forms,  is  always  anger  however  much  it 
may  be  lauded,  and  even  when  provoked  by  some- 
thing which  may  be  thought  to  make  it  justifiable. 
In  exact  proportion  to  its  intensity  it  always  brings 
evil  to  the  one  who  indulges  in  it.  One  thought 
never  becomes  united  with  another  thought  to  their 
metamorphosis  as  hydrogen  and  oxygen  disappear 


DISCORDANT  THOUGHTS  8 1 

into  water  in  their  chemical  union.  Thoughts  do 
not  have  any  such  relation  to  each  other. 

Everyone  is  aware  that  extreme  emotion  sometimes 
kills,  that  when  it  is  indulged  in  to  excess,  it  incapa- 
citates for  any  kind  of  effort,  while  in  lesser  degree 
it  may  pass  by  without  notice.  If  extreme  mental 
states  produce  disastrous  results,  milder  conditions 
must,  in  their  proportion,  produce  milder  results  of 
similar  character.  Though  the  disadvantage  may 
be  small,  still  it  works  its  proportion  of  harm,  and 
the  energy  expended  in  overcoming  its  injurious 
effects  might  have  been  stored  up  for  future  use  or 
employed  in  productive  activities. 

The  mental  condition  of  doubt  is  seldom  recog- 
nized as  discordant,  but  is  often  held  to  be  commend- 
able or  at  least  excusable,  as  well  as  unavoidable. 
While  it  has  phases  that  are  only  mildly  discordant, 
yet  its  uncertainty  leads  unavoidably  to  indecision  of 
action;  and,  when  this  is  coupled  with  that  sense 
of  responsibility  which  arises  out  of  the  anticipation 
of  possible  unfavorable  consequences,  there  follows 
much  discordant  thinking  in  the  form  of  anxiety 
and  worry.  These  are  products  of  doubt  and  would 
not  appear  except  for  its  presence  in  the  mind. 
The  two,  doubt  and  responsibility,  are  the  parents 
of  anxiety,  fret,  worry,  and  a  large  group  of  other 


UNIVFR.QITV 


82  RIGHT  AND   ^fRONG   THINKING 

discordant  mental  conditions.  Whenever  discord 
appears,  the  cause  which  produced  it  must  be  dis- 
cordant. 

Anxiety,  though  often  considered  justifiable, 
necessary,  or  even  advantageous,  and  therefore 
commendable,  is  a  discordant  mental  condition. 
In  its  milder  forms,  at  least,  it  is  seldom  held  to  be 
objectionable;  but  when  the  weight  of  responsibility 
rests  heavily  and  anxiety  appears  in  its  intensity, 
its  true  character  is  clearly  manifested  in  mental 
conditions  that  are  unequivocal  in  their  inharmo- 
nious peculiarities.  Anxiety  in  its  extreme  manifes- 
tation puts  an  effectual  stop  to  all  progress.  When 
under  a  keen  realization  of  responsibility,  who  has 
not  hesitated  to  undertake  a  good  deed,  or,  having 
undertaken  it,  has  not  been  greatly  hindered  by  the 
anxiety  which  attended  its  execution?  These  and 
all  their  train  spring  from  doubt  and  fear,  and  find 
their  legitimate  result  in  worry  and  its  disasters, 
culminating  in  moral  cowardice  and  despair. 

Many  people  are  prevented  from  doing  what  they 
know  to  be  wise  because  they  fear  the  result,  and 
often  because  they  are  afraid  that  they  will  fear  in 
the  course  of  the  transaction  or  at  the  approach  of 
its  crisis.  There  may  not  be  anything  but  their 
own  fear  to  be  afraid  of;   yet  they  are  aware  that 


DISCORDANT  THOUGHTS  83 

fear  incapacitates,  and  the  fear  that  they  will  fear 
prevents  any  action.  "I  can't,  because  I  know  I 
shall  be  afraid,"  is  a  frequent  expression  of  a  con- 
trolling thought,  and  they  who  indulge  it  stand 
paralyzed  by  the  fear  of  their  own  fear;  but  this 
which  they  have  themselves  created  they  may 
themselves  destroy. 

One  of  the  worst  errors  concerning  fear  is  found 
in  the  thought,  old  as  historic  man,  that  under 
certain  circumstances  it  is  wise  to  fear.  It  is  easily 
understood  how  the  old  writer,  who  thought  God 
was  a  tyrant  ruling  in  anger  and  desiring  vengeance, 
could  readily  believe  that  "The  fear  of  the  Lord  is 
the  beginning  of  wisdom."  No  doubt  that  writer 
really  meant  what  we  mean  when  we  use  the  same 
word ;  but  he  was  wofully  wrong  in  his  conception 
of  God's  character.  His  declaration  and  the  ideas 
which  caused  it  were  widely  prevalent  not  so  very 
long  ago,  and  have  aided  immensely  in  leading 
hosts  of  mankind  into  false  opinions  and  their  con- 
sequent erroneous  actions. 

There  is  a  similar  error  in  all  those  forms  and 
actions  of  government  which  rest  on  fear  for  their 
motive  and  efficiency.  It  is  not  possible  for  any 
one,  either  child  or  man,  to  do  his  best  nor  to  be  his 
best  when  under  the  dominion  of  fear;   and  yet  not 


84  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

only  parents,  but  both  Church  and  State,  have  held 
that  fear  is  salutary  and  have  acted  on  that  propo- 
sition. Untold  millions  of  lives  have  been  dwarfed 
and  perverted,  and  laudable  plans  without  number 
have  been  thwarted  or  abandoned  because  of  need- 
less fear. 

Hurry  needs  no  definition.  It  arises  from  the 
recognition  that  a  certain  object  must  be  accom- 
plished, or  a  certain  amount  of  work  must  be  done, 
in  a  given  time.  If  the  time  is  sufficient,  there  is  no 
feeling  of  haste.  If  the  time  seems  insufficient, 
there  follows  a  recognition  of  the  necessity  for  haste, 
and  the  result  is  hurry.  This  grows  out  of  the  doubt 
which  creates  the  fear  that  the  work  may  not  be 
accomplished  in  the  required  time.  Hence,  it  is 
clear  that  the  root  of  hurry  is  doubt  or  fear.  The 
verbal  expression  of  the  idea  takes  some  form  of 
the  declaration:  "I  am  afraid  I  cannot  finish  in 
time,"  which  is  the  natural  language  of  haste  and 
reveals  its  discordant  character.  Its  essential  exists 
in  the  thoughts  which  constitute  its  root,  and  which 
result  in  the  peculiar  sensations  which  always  ac- 
company it. 

Abandonment  of  hurry  does  not  involve  the  loss 
of  anything  desirable;  instead  it  results  in  impor- 
tant advantages.     Every  one  recognizes  the  truth  of 


DISCORDANT   THOUGHTS  85 

the  old  saw:  "The  more  haste,  the  less  speed." 
The  mental  condition  which  is  produced  by  the 
feeling  of  hurry  is  always  an  impediment  to  celerity 
of  action,  often  causes  inaccuracy,  and  sometimes 
results  in  destruction.  In  and  of  itself  alone,  there- 
fore, hurry,  like  all  other  kinds  of  discordant  think- 
ing, is  a  disadvantage  in  just  the  degree  of  its 
indulgence.  Then  abandon  that  mental  condition 
and  use  the  effort  thus  saved  to  increase  efficiency. 
Grief  in  many  of  its  forms  is  thought  to  be  ad- 
mirable. Especially  is  this  the  case  if  it  is  caused 
by  the  death  of  friends.  It  is  then  looked  upon  as  an 
expression  of  kindliness  of  heart  and  as  a  token  of 
respect  and  love  for  the  one  who  has  gone.  These 
qualities  are  indeed  admirable,  but  they  are  entirely 
distinct  from  grief,  although  grief  has  been  mis- 
takenly praised  for  them,  solely  because  its  close 
association  with  them  has  led  to  confusion  of  judg- 
ment. Not  to  grieve  for  the  loss  of  friends  is  con- 
demned as  hardness  of  heart;  sorrow  for  wrong 
doing  is  held  to  be  right  and  laudable ;  yet  we  know 
that  extreme  grief  often  paralyzes  and  sometimes 
kills,  and  that  not  infrequently  sorrow  for  wrong 
actions  is  so  intense  and  absorbing  as  to  unfit  its 
victim  for  activity  in  any  right  direction.  Who 
does  not  know  among  his  acquaintances  those  who 


S6  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

Have  so  grieved  over  business  losses  that  they  were 
unable  to  procure  the  needed  support  for  the  ones 
dependent  upon  them?  Who  has  not  known  grief 
for  the  loss  of  a  child  to  render  the  parent,  for  a 
time  at  least,  incapable  of  discharging  the  ordinary 
duties  of  life?  Many  cases  of  grief  have  resulted 
in  insanity.  It  is  true  that  these  are  results  of  ex- 
cessive grief;  but  all  grief  has  the  same  character- 
istics, and  such  extreme  instances  only  emphasize 
its  injurious  character.  Gates  shows  by  his  experi- 
ments that  even  mild  grief  unfits  for  vigorous 
activities,  a  fact  often  noted  by  every  observer. 

To  praise  the  milder  forms  of  grief  and  condemn 
its  excessive  indulgence,  or  to  praise  it  when  it  has 
one  cause  and  condemn  it  when  it  has  another,  is 
self-contradictory.  If  the  extreme  degrees  are  in- 
jurious, the  lesser  ones  are  proportionately  so.  If 
one  is  to  be  avoided,  so  should  the  others  be.  Grief 
or  regret,  by  itself  alone,  is  never  an  advantage. 
It  never  rights  a  wrong,  nor  removes  an  obstacle, 
nor  heals  a  wound.  Shakespeare  was  correct  when 
he  wrote:  "None  can  cure  their  harms  by  wailing 
them."  Wailing  only  adds  to  them  and  makes  them 
worse. 

All  selfishness  is  not  only  discordant  in  its  char- 
acter, but   it   is  morally  wrong;    and,   though  the 


DISCORDANT   THOUGHTS  87 

statement  may  seem  harsh,  yet,  when  accurately 
analyzed,  grief  in  every  one  of  its  forms  and  degrees, 
even  grief  because  of  the  loss  of  friends  by  death, 
is  largely  if  not  wholly  selfish.  If  questioned,  the 
mourner  will  himself  admit  that  it  is  not  the  change 
which  has  come  to  the  beloved  one  which  causes 
his  sorrow.  It  is  his  own  loss  which  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  his  grief;   and  that  is  selfishness. 

If  there  is  any  truth  in  the  declarations  of  Chris- 
tian religion,  every  shade  of  grief  for  those  who  have 
gone  before  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  professions 
of  love  for  the  departed.  If  Christians  half  be- 
lieved what  they  say  they  do,  they  would  recognize 
that  in  death  there  is  not  the  slightest  occasion  for 
grief,  but  rather  for  rejoicing  because  of  the  change 
which  has  come  to  the  one,  who  has  gone. 

Despair  in  its  extreme  manifestation  is  at  once 
recognized  as  discordant;  its  milder  forms  are  also 
discordant  though  they  may  come  to  the  surface 
under  many  and  praiseworthy  names.  Even  much- 
lauded  patience  may  be  only  that  form  of  despair 
in  which  one  submits  to  the  inevitable.  So  also  is 
resignation;  and  often  Christian  resignation,  so- 
called,  is  only  despairing  acquiescence  in  what  are 
wrongly  thought  to  be  decrees  of  Divine  Providence. 

There  is  a  variety  of  despair,  often  indulged  in  by 


88  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

many,  which  is  not  ordinarily  classed  as  discordant, 
but  which  is,  nevertheless,  extremely  dangerous.  It 
finds  utterance  in  the  declaration,  "I  can't."  This 
is  an  expression  of  complete  hopelessness  and 
voices  a  discordant  thought  that  will  paralyze  the 
strongest;  will  destroy  the  best,  wisest,  and  most 
fixed  intentions;  will  put  an  end  to  the  best-laid 
plans,  and  will  terminate  the  most  energetic  actions. 
It  injures  everywhere  and  will  bring  disaster  to 
anything  it  touches. 

The  thought,  "I  can't,"  makes  the  difference  be- 
tween success  and  failure.  The  dull  boy  in  school 
is  the  one  who,  without  making  an  effort,  thinks 
and  says  "I  can't."  The  bright  boy  is  the  one  who 
thinks  and  says  "I  can."  In  the  beginning  there 
may  have  been  very  little  other  difference,  only  one 
gave  up  easily  and  the  other  not  at  all;  the  life  of 
one  becomes  a  failure,  of  the  other  a  brilliant  success. 

The  only  place  where  "I  can't"  has  any  value  is 
when  used  as  a  refusal  to  think  or  do  wrong;  even 
then  it  is  erroneous  in  form  and  does  not  express 
the  appropriate  idea.  The  correct  and  more  vig- 
orous form  under  such  circumstances  would  be,  "I 
will  not";  for  a  person  may  be  abundantly  able  to 
do  what  he  positively  refuses  to  do. 

"I  can't"  tends  toward  the  cessation  of  all  action 


DISCORDANT  THOUGHTS  89 

—  that  is  death.  "I  can"  tends  toward  activity 
and  gives  power  —  that  is  life.  Since  we  would 
avoid  the  worst  of  evils,  we  should  cease  even  to 
think  "I  can't."  If  we  would  maintain  life,  we 
should  continue  to  think  "I  can."  The  man  who 
never  recognizes  defeat  finally  succeeds.  It  was 
said  that  the  great  secret  of  General  Grant's  success 
was  that  he  never  acknowledged,  even  to  himself, 
that  he  was  beaten.  The  man  who  thinks  he  has 
failed  soon  does  so,  and  he  who  thinks  he  is  a  failure 
speedily  becomes  one. 

A  man  was  bedridden.  His  physician  said  that 
he  had  no  disease,  and  that  there  was  no  reason 
why  he  should  not  go  about  his  business.  The 
physician  was  correct;  the  man  was  a  victim  of 
his  own  thought.  One  day  smoke  came  pouring 
into  his  room.  It  was  only  a  ruse  of  his  doctor, 
but  the  man  thought  the  house  was  on  fire.  Think- 
ing so,  to  him  it  was  a  reality.  He  forgot  his  in- 
ability; the  "I  can't"  thought  was  excluded  from 
his  mind  by  another  which  for  the  moment  was  more 
intense,  and,  in  consequence,  he  got  up,  dressed, 
and  rushed  out.  "I  can't,"  and  not  anything  else, 
had  held  him  in  bondage. 

Banish  even  the  suspicion  of  the  discordant  and 
destructive    thoughts    of    hopelessness,    defeat,    or 


90  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

despair.  Do  that  everywhere,  especially  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  mental  training  here  advocated. 
Whatever  the  object,  let  its  consideration  be  always 
without  a  thought  of  discouragement,  even  when 
examining  its  difficulties  most  carefully.  Scrutinize 
all  obstacles  for  the  purpose  of  finding  how  to  over- 
come them.  If  the  project  is  worth  the  effort,  there 
is  a  way  to  accomplish  it.  That  way  will  be  found 
if  it  is  sought  with  a  confidence  which  excludes  all 
doubt. 

Patience  is  highly  lauded  and  not  unduly  so  when 
contrasted  with  impatience ;  but  the  two  are  closely 
related.  If  its  own  special  characteristics  are  ex- 
amined, patience  will  be  seen  to  occupy  a  paradoxical 
position.  When  one  excludes  all  of  that  discordant 
thinking  which  is  called  impatience,  he  will  not  have 
any  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  patience;  that  is, 
when  impatience  is  wholly  put  out  of  mind,  patience 
also  disappears.  Therein  is  its  subtlety  and  deceit, 
for  patience  has  no  possibility  of  existence  without 
some  of  those  discordant  thoughts  which  attend  im- 
patience; and  in  the  cultivation  of  patience  one 
unsuspectingly  allows  and  cultivates  more  or  less 
impatience  at  the  very  time  when  he  flatters  himself 
that  he  has  abandoned  it.  Hence,  there  is  something 
better  than  patience,  and  that  is  the  condition  which 


DISCORDANT   THOUGHTS  91 

exists  in  the  mind  after  the  entire  exclusion  of  all 
impatience.  Until  this  can  be  attained  patience  is 
desirable  just  as  a  lesser  degree  of  evil  is  not  so  bad 
as  a  greater.  Patience  may  be  a  good  intermediate 
stage  in  one's  progress,  but  it  is  unwise  to  "culti- 
vate patience"  as  a  final  virtue  because  it  is  only 
harboring  a  mild  degree  of  error,  which  sometimes 
verges  close  on  despair. 

Self-condemnation,  with  its  allied  lines  of  think- 
ing, has  been  highly  commended  as  a  proper  recog- 
nition of  one's  own  faults  and  mistakes.  It  is 
continually  taught  both  by  precept  and  example 
from  infancy  to  old  age.  The  little  child  is  asked 
if  he  is  not  ashamed  of  himself  for  an  act  which  he 
did  not  know  was  wrong;  the  man  of  business 
teaches  the  inexperienced  boy  to  blame  himself  for 
the  mistakes  of  ignorance;  the  moralist  says  one 
ought  to  condemn  himself  for  his  wrong  doing; 
the  Church  universally  advises  sorrow  and  regret  for 
sins,  and  the  deeper  the  penitence,  or  the  greater  the 
condemnation  of  self,  the  more  laudable  it  is  thought 
to  be;  and  so  on  through  the  whole  list  of  ethical 
and  moral  teachers  of  every  grade. 

Self-condemnation  is  a  woful  waste  of  energy 
which  should  be  directed  toward  repair  of  the  in- 
jury done  and  avoidance  of  similar  conditions  in  the 


92  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

future.  This  does  not  in  the  slightest  degree  imply 
less  sensitiveness  of  conscience,  less  keenness  of 
judgment,  nor  less  clearness  of  sight  to  perceive  the 
right  and  the  wrong  of  things,  nor  less  eagerness  to 
do  the  right  and  avoid  the  wrong ;  on  the  contrary, 
its  absence  gives  place  for  more  of  these  very  quali- 
ties and  saves  waste  of  vigor  in  both  intellect  and 
muscle. 

Self-condemnation  at  its  best  is  discordant;  and 
the  various  forms  of  regret,  grief  over  failures,  self- 
distrust  which  produces  doubt  and  hesitation  about 
proposed  or  future  actions,  fear  of  not  succeeding, 
inefficiency,  and  repression,  are  among  the  many 
serious  and  widespread  evils  resulting  from  it. 
Whatever  their  cause,  they  right  no  wrongs,  repair 
no  errors,  set  no  bones,  restore  no  life,  change  no  act 
that  is  past,  and  do  no  good  in  any  way.  Their 
whole  progeny  is  unworthy  of  any  brave,  true  man. 
The  energy  thus  employed  is  worse  than  wasted 
because  it  is  used  in  work  that  is  destructive, 
occupying  valuable  time  and  absorbing  valuable 
strength  which  might  otherwise  be  used  in  repair- 
ing damages  and  recovering  lost  ground.  A  man 
need  neither  repeat  his  sins,  his  mistakes,  nor 
his  failures,  nor  need  he  condemn  himself  for 
them. 


DISCORDANT    THOUGHTS  93 

If  self-condemnation  prevails  in  any  considerable 
degree,  there  will  result  such  lack  of  confidence  in 
one's  own  ability  as  to  thrust  him  out  of  his  proper 
sphere  of  activity  into  a  lower  one  and  to  deprive 
him  of  efficiency  and  executive  ability  everywhere 
else  as  well  as  in  this  work  of  securing  mental  con- 
trol. Such  thoughts  tend  in  every  way  to  the  degra- 
dation and  even  to  the  complete  destruction  of  the 
thinker.  Innumerable  untimely  graves  are  filled  with 
victims  of  self-blame  and  its  products,  —  disgrace, 
shame,  remorse,  and  despair,  —  and  yet  self-condem- 
nation has  been  held  up  as  worthy  of  all  praise  by 
educated,  intelligent,  and  moral  people  who  would 
have  known  better  if  they  had  understood  its  true 
character. 

That  the  boy  does  not  "cry  over  spilled  milk" 
does  not  indicate  indifference  to  the  loss  of  the  milk ; 
crying  would  only  hinder  him  in  his  efforts  to  procure 
more.  That  a  person  does  not  waste  time  in  vain 
condemnation  of  himself  and  his  past  actions,  which 
were  probably  performed  in  good  faith  and  with  the 
best  judgment  possible  on  the  information  possessed 
at  the  time  they  were  begun,  does  not  indicate  lack 
of  understanding,  nor  want  of  discrimination,  nor  a 
disposition  to  repeat  the  error.  That  one  does  not 
sit  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  for  the  crime  or  sin  he 


94  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

has  committed  is  no  proof  that  his  determination 
to  abandon  his  evil  course  is  not  sincere. 

Our  great  teacher,  Jesus,  the  Christ,  does  not 
advise  discordant  thinking  of  any  kind.  He  points 
out  errors,  wrongs,  and  sins,  and  holds  them  up  to 
view  in  their  true  light,  never  in  the  slightest  abating 
their  enormity.  He  tells  us  not  to  repeat  such  things ; 
but,  so  far  as  we  have  the  record,  he  does  not  any- 
where nor  under  any  circumstances  advise  any  one 
to  condemn  himself  or  to  regret  anything  he  has 
done,  or  to  grieve  over  it.  He  speaks  of  repentance 
and  conversion,  and  in  religious  circles  much  stress 
is  rightfully  laid  upon  these;  but,  unfortunately, 
these  English  words  as  at  present  understood  do  not 
correctly  represent  the  meaning  of  the  Greek  words 
for  which  they  stand  in  the  New  Testament. 

The  Greek  word  metanoeo,  which  is  translated 
"repent,"  is  thus  defined  by  the  lexicographers:  "to 
perceive  afterwards,  to  change  one's  mind  or  pur- 
pose, to  change  one's  opinion,  to  have  another  mind." 
This  does  not  in  the  least  indicate  or  require  regret, 
self-condemnation,  or  any  other  discordant  thinking. 
Jesus'  exhortation  was  always  to  change  the  mind 
for  the  better,  never  to  spend  time  wailing  over  the 
past,  and  it  is  entirely  presumable  that  the  connection 
of  discordant  thinking  with  the  true  meaning  of  the 


DISCORDANT    THOUGHTS  95 

word  arose  from  the  fact  that  very  often  such  a 
"change  of  mind"  has  been  accompanied  by 
thoughts  of  grief,  regret,  and  self-condemnation; 
but  the  word  itself  does  not  convey  such  a  meaning, 
any  more  than  do  the  phrases  which  are  used  to 
define  it.  When  the  word  was  addressed  to  one  who 
was  in  the  wrong,  it  set  forth  in  strictly  scientific 
terms  the  easiest,  simplest,  and  best  method  of 
making  a  change  in  conduct  from  wrong  to  right, 
for  it  simply  means  "  change  your  mind"  —  no  more, 
no  less. 

Likewise  the  Greek  word  epistrepho,  which  is 
translated  "  convert,"  contains  within  itself  no  mean- 
ing indicating  any  discordant  thinking  whatever. 
It  is  defined  "to  turn,  to  turn  one's  self,  to  turn 
about,  to  turn  around,"  etc.,  and  is  used  figuratively, 
as  we  say,  "turn  from  the  error  of  your  ways";  or 
as  Peter  said  in  his  speech  to  the  people  which  is 
reported  in  Acts  iii.  19:  "Repent  ye  therefore,  and 
be  converted,  that  your  sins  may  be  blotted  out." 
"Change  your  minds  and  thereby  be  turned  about" 
exactly  expresses  the  full  meaning  and  brings  the 
two  words  into  such  proximity  that  their  mutual 
relationship  clearly  appears.  This  turning  about 
is  the  natural  and  inevitable  result  of  the  change  of 
mind  indicated  by  the  true  meaning  of  the  word 


g6  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

"repent."  Both  repentance  and  conversion  will  be 
better  understood,  and  their  object  better  accom- 
plished, if  the  thought  about  them  is  limited  to  the 
rightful  meaning  of  the  words,  and  the  judgment 
is  not  warped  by  self-condemnation,  grief,  fear, 
remorse,  or  any  other  discordant  thinking. 


XI 

HOW  TO  CONTROL  THINKING 

Said  an  old  Hindu  sage  who  lived  so  long  ago  that 
his  name  has  been  forgotten:  "Let  the  wise  man 
without  fail  restrain  his  mind."  His  counsel  would 
have  been  better  if  he  had  said :  "Let  the  wise  man 
without  fail  control  his  mind;"  and  perhaps  that  is 
what  he  meant,  for  his  real  meaning  may  have  been 
lost  in  erroneous  translation.  Ever  since  his  time, 
and  probably  for  a  long  while  before,  there  have  been 
men  who  recognized  with  more  or  less  distinctness 
and  earnestness  the  advisability  of  mental  control. 
To  be  able  to  abandon  those  varieties  of  discordant 
and  injurious  thinking  described  in  the  preceding 
chapter  would  constitute  a  very  desirable  element 
of  mental  control  and  one  which  would  lead  directly 
to  most  admirable  results  through  complete  self- 
control.  The  question  then  becomes,  how  may  we 
rid  ourselves  of  discordant  thinking? 

The  answer  is  very  simple.  Stop  thinking  dis- 
cordant thoughts.     Turn  from  one  subject  and  give 

97 


98  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

attention  to  another;  change  the  thinking  from  one 
thing  to  another;  drop  out  of  the  mind  those  dis- 
cordant thoughts  which  occupy  it  and  think  other 
and  harmonious  thoughts. 

Every  one  who  observes  his  own  mental  actions 
and  methods  is  aware  of  countless  changes  of  think- 
ing following  one  another  in  rapid  succession  in 
response  to  external  suggestions  or  requirements. 
The  frequency  of  these  occurrences  will  surprise  all 
those  who  have  not  turned  their  attention  in  this 
direction.  They  will  also  discover  that,  under  all 
ordinary  circumstances,  these  changes  are  made 
without  the  slightest  appreciable  effort.  All  this  is 
normal,  occurring  in  the  usual  course  of  mental 
action.  It  is  also  ideal.  It  is  toward  such  natural 
and  ideal  action  as  this  that  all  intentional  efforts 
to  avoid  discordant  thinking  should  be  directed. 
To  make  similar  changes  intentionally  every  time 
the  discordant  thoughts  appear,  thus  dropping  them 
out  of  the  mind  and  giving  the  attention  wholly  to 
harmonious  thoughts,  is  to  comply  with  the  rule  in 
every  particular  and  accomplish  every  desirable 
result. 

The  only  unusual  mental  action  involved  in  this 
course  is  that  the  impulse  to  the  action  is  to  come 
from  within  instead  of  from  without.     The  change 


HOW  TO   CONTROL  THINKING  99 

should  be  made  purposely,  promptly,  because  of 
one's  own  choice,  and  in  response  to  recognized 
principle;  but  not  in  heedless  compliance  with  the 
suggestions  of  external  circumstances  or  conditions. 
If  apprehension  of  either  effort  or  difficulty  arises  in 
the  mind  when  proposing  to  abandon  discordant 
thinking,  it  should  be  instantly  excluded  because 
it  will  inevitably  lead  to  some  form  of  the  very 
kind  of  thinking  which  is  to  be  avoided.  This 
course  of  training  depends  on  choice,  must  be 
in  response  to  choice,  and  should  be  accom- 
panied by  the  least  possible  expenditure  of  will 
or  effort. 

So  much  is  said  about  exercise  of  the  will  that  the 
term  has  become  enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  words,  its 
true  meaning  has  become  obscured  to  the  ordinary 
mind,  and  its  very  existence  is  questioned  by  some 
of  the  best-trained  intellects.  However  that  may  be, 
preceding  what  is  usually  recognized  as  the  will,  or 
the  determination  to  do,  is  choice  which  is  without 
conscious  effort,  while  exercise  of  the  will  is  always 
accompanied  by  effort,  sometimes  severe.  It  all 
finally  resolves  itself  into  a  question  of  action  in 
response  to  choice,  because  choice  lies  at  the  founda- 
tion of  all  these  actions,  however  necessary  exercise 
of  will  may  sometimes  seem  to  be. 


IOO  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

The  requirement  is  merely  to  drop  the  discordant 
thought  —  to  let  go  of  it  as  one  lets  go  of  a  stone  in 
the  hand  —  and  this  surely  necessitates  less  exertion 
than  to  hold  on.  This  act  of  dropping  the  discor- 
dant thought  ought  to  be,  and  may  be,  nothing  more 
than  the  abandonment  of  effort  in  response  to  choice, 
and  it  should  not  require  any  exercise  of  energy  in 
"enforcing  the  behest  of  the  will,"  for  there  ought 
not  to  be  any  of  the  strenuousness  of  "will" 
about  it. 

Control  of  the  thinking  is  one  of  the  primary 
actions  of  the  mind  and,  like  all  such  actions,  can  no 
more  be  described  than  one  can  tell  another  how  to 
see  or  how  to  move.  It  is  possible  to  say,  "Look 
there,"  or,  "Hand  me  the  book,"  but  it  is  impossible 
to  instruct  another  how  to  see  with  the  eye  or  how 
to  move  the  hand.  The  three  mental  actions  which 
are  essential  to  this  mental  training  are  how  to  think, 
how  to  stop  thinking  any  particular  thought  which 
may  be  in  the  mind,  and  how  to  change  the 
thinking  from  one  thought  to  another.  Although 
there  cannot  be  any  direct  explanation  of  these 
primary  actions,  yet,  through  experience,  every  one 
knows  somewhat  of  how  to  accomplish  them  and 
does  not  need  any  instruction  beyond  the  suggestion 
to  begin. 


HOW   TO   CONTROL   THINKING'  IOI 

The  method  is  most  clearly  and  definitely  set  foftfr 
by  Strong  when  he  says:  "Suppose  that,  while 
thinking,  I  come  within  sight  of  some  painful  memory 
or  inconvenient  thought,  and  turn  deliberately  away, 
saying,  '  No,  I  must  not  think  of  that ; '  surely,  by  so 
doing  I  cause  the  cessation  of  the  corresponding 
brain-event  as  effectually  as  if  I  went  at  the  cortex 
with  a  knife.  It  is  as  easy  to  turn  the  attention  away 
from  an  idea  as  to  turn  the  eyes  away  from  an  object. 
Nay  more,  it  is  as  easy  to  turn  the  attention  away 
from  a  sensation.  To  make  a  visual  sensation  lapse 
from  consciousness,  it  is  not  necessary  to  look  away, 
but  only  to  think  away."  l 

Apropos  of  this  subject,  Edward  Carpenter  says: 
"If  a  pebble  in  our  boot  torments  us,  we  expel  it. 
We  take  off  the  boot  and  shake  it  out.  And  once  the 
matter  is  fairly  understood  it  is  just  as  easy  to  expel 
an  intruding  and  obnoxious  thought  from  the  mind. 
About  this  there  ought  to  be  no  mistake,  no  two 
opinions.  The  thing  is  obvious,  clear,  and  unmis- 
takable. It  should  be  as  easy  to  expel  an  obnoxious 
thought  from  your  mind  as  it  is  to  shake  a  stone  out 
of  your  shoe ;  and  till  a  man  can  do  that,  it  is  just 
nonsense  to  talk  about  his  ascendency  over  nature, 
and  all  the  rest  of  it.     He  is  a  mere  slave  and  a  prey 

1  Why  the  Mind  has  a  Body,  p.  95. 


102  RIGHT.  AND   WRONG    THINKING 

to  the  bat-winged  phantoms  that  flit  through  the 
corridors  of  his  own  brain." 

President  McCosh  says:  ''Though  a  man  may 
not  be  able  to  command  his  sensibilities  directly, 
he  has  complete  power  over  them  indirectly.  He 
can  guide  and  control,  if  not  the  feeling  itself,  at 
least  the  idea,  which  is  the  channel  in  which  it  flows. 
...  He  may  be  able  to  banish  the  unholy  idea  by 
calling  in  a  more  elevating  one ;  he  may  remove  the 
object  out  of  the  way  or  remove  out  of  the  way  of 
the  object,  and  the  flame  left  without  its  feeder  will 
die  out.  A  man  can  thus  control  his  feelings ;  he  is 
responsible  for  them,  for  their  perversion,  for  their 
excess,  and  defect." 

He  who  is  really  in  earnest  and  perseveres  in  the 
practice,  doing  his  best  to  stop  his  discordant  think- 
ing in  ways  which  his  own  intelligence  and  experi- 
ence will  suggest,  will  learn  the  whole  lesson.  There 
is  no  secret  about  it,  nor  any  copyright,  nor  patent. 
By  inheritance  it  is  the  right  of  every  human  being, 
and  every  one  who  is  in  earnest  will  find  the  way  to 
claim  his  inheritance  and  control  his  thinking.  In 
practical  mechanics,  however  much  the  boy  may 
have  heard  or  read,  he  does  not  know  much  about 
his  work  until  he  uses  the  tools,  and  by  using  them 
learns  certain  things  that  cannot  be  verbally  com- 


HOW   TO   CONTROL   THINKING  IO3 

municated ;  so  here,  in  the  practice  of  these  things, 
one  may  learn  for  himself  vastly  more  than  can  be 
told  in  words.  The  earnest  practitioner  in  mental 
as  well  as  in  physical  training  will  gain  an  under- 
standing and  a  power  which  will  enable  him  to  do 
what  seemed  impossible  at  the  outset. 


xn 

SUBSTITUTION 

Purposely  putting  out  one  thought  and  occupying 
the  mind  with  another  may  be  called  the  method  of 
substitution.  Exclusion  of  discordant  thoughts 
furnishes  opportunity  for  harmonious  ones  to  take 
their  place.  If  the  purpose  is  intense  enough,  the 
new  thought  will  never  have  to  be  sought  for, 
because  ceasing  to  think  one  thought  uncovers 
another  which  at  once  presents  itself  in  the  place 
of  the  one  which  was  discarded. 

Decisive  action  at  this  point  in  the  process  is 
especially  important.  On  the  instant  and  without 
hesitation,  seize  the  first  thought  which  appears  and 
hold  it  tenaciously.  When  the  dangerous  intruder 
has  been  dislodged,  the  positive,  unwavering  accept- 
ance of  the  new  thought  will  close  the  door  and  lock 
it  behind  the  ejected  intruder.  To  occupy  the  mind 
in  looking  about  for  some  specially  appropriate 
thought  will  cause  such  indecision  and  vacillation 
as  will  give  the  one  excluded  abundant  opportunity 

104 


SUBSTITUTION  IO5 

to  return.  Do  not  stop  at  first  to  question  the  char- 
acter of  the  newcomer.  That  can  be  decided  later 
when  the  mental  control  is  more  assured,  and  then 
if  another  more  desirable  thought  presents  itself,  it 
may  be  accepted  in  its  turn. 

The  mind  must  be  active.  The  room  which  was 
once  filled  with  erroneous  and  discordant  thoughts, 
but  which  has  been  swept  clean  of  them,  must  im- 
mediately be  filled  with  desirable  ones  so  that  there 
may  be  no  place  for  the  return  of  the  former  objec- 
tionable occupants.  "We  should  have  our  prin- 
ciples ready  for  use  on  every  occasion"  is  as  true 
now  as  when  Epictetus  first  declared  it.  Good 
thoughts  will  then  be  ready  to  appear  as  soon  as  they 
are  given  the  opportunity  by  the  turning  out  of  bad 
ones.  Of  course  it  is  at  all  times  and  in  every  way 
advantageous  intentionally  and  consciously  to  bring 
good  thoughts  into  the  mind  and  keep  them  there; 
then  evil  ones  will  not  have  an  opportunity  to  enter. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  mental  training  employ- 
ment of  any  kind  is  a  decided  advantage  because  it 
keeps  the  mind  occupied  with  a  better  kind  of  think- 
ing than  might  otherwise  fill  it.  Herein  lies  one  of 
the  greatest  benefits  connected  with  labor.  The 
labor  should  not  be  such  as  results  in  great  physical 
fatigue,  nor  should  it  require  such  special  attention 


106  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

as  to  produce  mental  exhaustion.  It  should  be 
neither  excessive  nor  insufficient,  but  adapted  men- 
tally and  physically  to  the  condition  of  the  person 
who  is  employed  in  it.  If  excessive,  there  is  danger 
of  mental  reaction  through  fatigue;  if  insufficient, 
there  is  danger  that  the  unoccupied  mind  may  take 
up  some  objectionable  topic.  Mental  activity  and 
the  character  of  that  activity  are  the  essentials ;  the 
labor  is  valuable  only  as  an  aid  to  control  mental 
action. 

Herein,  also,  lies  the  advantage  connected  with 
travel  and  change  of  scene.  Under  these  circum- 
stances nearly  every  one  submits  himself  to  the  sug- 
gestions of  his  new  surroundings  and  allows  his  mind 
to  follow  them  without  any  effort  at  control.  Re- 
moval from  the  old  familiar  environment  into  scenes 
of  an  entirely  different  character  gives  new  sugges- 
tions which  substitute  new  lines  of  thinking  in  place 
of  the  former  habitual  ones,  and  these  changed  men- 
tal conditions  bring  fresh  stimulus  to  the  physical 
system.  It  is  change  of  thinking  which  causes  the 
beneficial  result,  not  change  of  air. 

The  idle  and  frivolous  need  the  change  that  stimu- 
lates new  thought  more  than  those  who  are  engaged 
in  productive  work,  because  their  thinking  is  far  more 
liable  to  be  of  an  injurious  character.     This  is  the 


SUBSTITUTION  I07 

secret  of  the  physical  degeneration  which  follows 
lives  of  luxury  or  idleness;  the  poison  is  in  the 
character  of  their  thinking. 

Just  at  this  place  it  may  be  well  to  note  this  self- 
evident  fact:  exclusion  of  discordant,  erroneous, 
or  immoral  thinking  gives  just  so  much  more  time 
and  opportunity  for  the  harmonious,  truthful,  or 
moral  thinking.  From  considerations  of  utility 
alone,  this  is  very  important;  the  questions  of 
morality  make  it  much  more  so. 

A  most  excellent  way  to  turn  the  thoughts  from 
discordant  channels  into  harmonious  ones  is  to  look 
habitually  for  the  good,  both  in  persons  and  in 
things.  It  is  an  accepted  fact  that  nothing  can  exist 
which  is  wholly  evil  or  entirely  separated  from  good. 
There  was  never  a  person  who  did  not  have  some 
good  qualities  or  who  did  not  do  some  good  deeds; 
nor  ever  a  thing,  however  much  it  might  be  out  of 
place,  that  did  not  have  somewhat  of  good  in  it  or 
closely  connected  with  it.  Then  the  search  for  the 
good,  if  diligent  and  faithful,  need  never  be  in  vain ; 
and  when  found,  it  ought  to  be  well  and  carefully 
treasured.  With  this  habit  fully  established,  error 
thoughts  will  seldom  intrude.  Steadfastly  "Look 
for  the  good  in  thine  enemy." 

The  fact  that  good  and  bad  are  often  close  to- 


108  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

gether,  and  that  there  is  never  anything  wholly  bad, 
is  well  illustrated  in  the  answer  of  the  member  of 
the  kirk,  who  had  been  charged  with  saying  good 
things  of  the  devil  —  an  unpardonable  sin  in  the  eyes 
of  those  valiant  old  Scotch  Presbyterians  of  former 
days.  Her  answer  and  her  defence  was :  "Ah  weel, 
mon,  'twere  vera  gude  for  a'  the  members  o'  the  kirk 
if  they  had  his  persistence." 

The  search  for  the  good  should  be  undertaken  for 
its  own  sake  alone,  and  not  with  any  ulterior  or 
secondary  object  in  view.  The  one  purpose  should 
always  be  kept  fully  to  the  front.  If  this  search 
for  the  good  is  prosecuted  with  the  desire  to  secure 
through  it  some  other  advantage,  that  second  object 
should  be  dropped  out  of  the  mind  because  its  pres- 
ence will  tend  strongly  toward  defeat.  This  is 
because  the  action  of  the  mind  will  be  divided  by  the 
pursuit  of  two  objects  and  neither  will  receive  its 
whole  attention,  consequently  each  will  fall  short  of 
its  rightful  result.  The  hunter  cannot  aim  his  rifle 
at  two  different  objects  at  the  same  time  with  any 
serious  expectation  of  hitting  either.  To  be  double 
minded  is  to  invite  defeat. 

The  whole  subject  may  be  well  illustrated  by  the 
case  of  the  young  lady  who  could  not  sleep  because 
the  noises^of  the  city  disturbed  her.     She  was  told 


SUBSTITUTION  I09 

that  every  noise,  whatever  its  character,  had  a 
musical  note  and  was  advised  to  try  to  find  that 
note  in  each  of  the  various  sounds  which  she  heard. 
In  compliance  with  this  advice  she  abandoned  all 
attempts  to  go  to  sleep  and  pursued  that  one  object 
with  the  result  that  she  slept  soundly  all  night. 
The  explanation  is  that  before  she  had  dwelt  strongly 
on  the  discordant  characteristics  of  the  noises  which 
she  heard,  and,  by  her  own  thinking,  had  enlarged 
her  consciousness  of  the  discord  as  well  as  of  her 
consequent  sufferings,  and  thus  she  kept  herself 
awake.  In  her  search  for  the  musical-  notes  she 
lost  sight  of  the  disturbing  discordant  conditions, 
and  she  fell  asleep  because  the  discord  no  longer 
disturbed  her.  If,  during  her  search  for  the  musical 
notes  and  her  contemplation  of  them,  she  had  kept 
in  her  mind  the  thought  that  she  was  doing  this  for 
the  purpose  of  inducing  sleep,  she  would  thus  have 
kept  herself  wide  awake  because  her  mental  action 
would  have  been  divided  between  two  objects,  and 
she  would  have  been  constantly  aware  of  the  fear 
(discordant  thought)  that  after  all  she  might  not 
secure  the  coveted  sleep.  Let  the  mind  be  single. 
If  so  much  can  be  accomplished  in  the  purely 
physical  way  by  singleness  of  purpose  in  the  search 
for  the  good,  surely  equally  conclusive  results  may 


IIO  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

be  gained  in  moral  and  spiritual  directions;  and  by 
so  much  as  these  are  more  desirable  will  the  conse- 
quences be  more  valuable. 

Therefore  this  search  for  the  good,  which  is  one 
of  the  best  methods  by  which  harmonious  thinking 
may  be  substituted  for  discordant,  should  not  be 
limited  to  an  attempt  for  the  moment  only.  It 
should  be  a  life  work,  constantly  in  exercise,  and  it 
should  be  pursued  until  complete  success  is  at  last 
attained  in  the  exclusion  of  every  discordant  thought. 
Thus  life  will  be  made  to  shine  brighter  and  brighter, 
not  alone  for  the  one  who  practises  the  lesson  and 
learns  it,  but  also  for  all  his  associates,  until  at  last 
it  shall  irradiate  the  world.  We  do  not,  nor  can  we, 
live  and  make  ourselves  better  for  ourselves  alone. 
This  is  a  work  for  self  which  does  not  have  any 
selfishness  in  it. 


XIII 
IMMEDIATE   ACTION 

The  discordant  thought  often  appears  very 
suddenly  in  response  to  external  suggestion,  and 
sometimes  that  fact  is  made  an  excuse  for  allow- 
ing it  to  pursue  its  course.  The  plea  is,  "It  came 
before  I  knew  it;"  but  this  does  not  justify  any  one 
in  allowing  it  to  continue.  One  can  think  in  one 
direction  just  as  rapidly  as  in  another,  and,  if  he 
chooses  to  do  so,  he  can  stop  the  discordant  thought 
as  suddenly  as  it  appeared  —  even  on  the  very 
instant.  The  unexpected  flash  of  anger  can  be 
cast  out  of  the  mind  with  the  same  instantaneous- 
ness  that  it  started. 

There  is  no  difference  in  the  rapidity  of  the 
different  kinds  of  thinking.  It  takes  no  longer 
to  think  harmonious  thoughts  than  discordant 
ones,  and  no  longer  to  exclude  the  discordant 
thought  than  it  did  to  admit  it.  If  one  is  instan- 
taneous, so  may  the  other  be.  Though  it  takes  a 
little  time  for  the  mind  to  send  its  orders  along 

in 


112  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

the  nerve  to  the  muscle,  still,  in  itself  alone, 
thinking  is  very  nearly  if  not  quite  instantaneous. 

Of  course,  in  all  this  there  are  those  thoughts 
which  immediately  precede  an  act,  and  others 
which  were  antecedent  and  contributory  to  it. 
The  series  may  be  a  long  one,  running  far  back 
into  the  past.  Before  a  man  murders  another, 
there  must  have  been  in  his  own  mind  thoughts 
of  greed,  envy,  anger,  hate,  desire  for  revenge,  or 
others  of  evil  character.  According  to  some  state- 
ments of  modern  science,  these  may  have  fol- 
lowed one  another  through  generations  of  ances- 
tors. The  first  one  of  the  series  is  more  easily 
controlled  than  any  of  its  successors,  and  de- 
struction of  the  first  prevents  the  birth  of  any  of  the 
others.  They  are  all  evil  and  discordant,  and, 
under  the  rule,  each  is  to  be  abandoned  as  soon 
as  it  appears,  even  though  none  of  them  point  to 
any  immediate  " overt  act." 

Indeed,  the  danger  of  the  overt  act  does  not 
constitute  the  greatest  danger.  That  really  lies 
in  the  first  thought  of  the  series.  The  woodsman 
can  split  the  log  if  he  can  only  make  an  entrance 
into  the  wood  with  the  point  of  his  wedge,  and  so 
it  is  with  thinking.  A  person  should  not  allow 
in  his  mind  the  smallest  item  of  discordant  thought, 


IMMEDIATE   ACTION  II3 

because  it  is  there  that  the  danger  lies.  It  is  the 
point  of  the  wedge,  and  safety  lies  in  not  admitting 
even  that. 

That  wise  old  Chinese  philosopher,  Lao-tsze, 
said:  "Contemplate  a  difficulty  while  it  is  easy. 
Manage  a  great  thing  while  it  is  small."  If  the 
seed  is  destroyed,  there  will  be  neither  the  little 
shoot  nor  the  rank  weed  to  be  uprooted  and  cast 
away.  The  trouble  with  many  of  us  is  that  we  do 
not  understand,  and  we  allow  weeds  to  grow  until 
they  overrun  the  garden.  Let  there  be  neither 
hesitation  nor  delay.  Discordant  thinking  gathers 
force  and  persistence  with  every  moment  it  con- 
tinues. Delay  affords  it  an  opportunity  to  intrench 
itself,  and  this  only  increases  the  difficulty.  If 
one  neglects  the  little  fire,  he  cannot  stop  the  big 
conflagration. 

The  boy  coasting,  if  he  sees  danger  ahead,  may 
check  his  first  movement  with  very  little  difficulty. 
Whether  the  start  is  abrupt  and  the  descent  steep, 
or  more  deliberate  in  the  beginning  and  the  descent 
more  gradual,  the  stop  should  be  made  with 
decisive  promptness  the  very  instant  that  danger 
is  perceived.  Halfway  down  the  declivity,  when 
the  velocity  is  great  and  the  accumulated  impetus 
is  considerable,  the  stop  cannot  be  made  so  easily. 


114  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

The  boy  may  put  down  the  brakes,  but  there  is 
danger  of  accident,  and  he  must  "play  the  game 
out"  even  though  he  may  conclude  it  sooner 
because  of  his  efforts.  The  better  and  easier  way 
is  not  to  start ;  or,  having  started,  to  stop  at  the 
first  movement. 

The  discordant  thought  should  be  dropped  out 
of  the  mind  as  quickly  as  a  red-hot  coal  would  be 
dropped  out  of  the  hand,  and  another  and  har- 
monious thought  should  be  welcomed  in  its  place 
with  equal  celerity.  Prompt  and  decisive  action 
here  will  save  much  future  effort. 


XIV 

PERSISTENCE 

Every  least  mental  action  has  its  result.  By 
the  law  of  the  persistence  of  energy,  nothing  ever 
happens,  however  seemingly  unimportant,  with- 
out its  effect  on  succeeding  events.  Astronomers 
say  that  the  falling  of  a  pebble  moves  the  earth 
out  of  its  course  in  exact  proportion  to  the  size  of 
the  pebble.  Everything  has  its  own  value  and 
importance.  Then  we  ought  to  seek  out  the 
smallest  manifestation  of  discordant  thinking  and 
stop  it,  because  the  slightest  objectionable  thought 
must  have  its  result,  and  therefore  it  should  never 
be  allowed  to  run  its  course.  It  would  be  a  serious 
mistake  to  suppose  any  thought  too  trivial  to  re- 
quire attention. 

The  rule  at  Donnybrook  Fair  applies  here: 
"Wherever  you  see  a  head,  hit  it."  The  least  is 
not  too  small  to  be  terminated  if  it  is  wrong.  The 
little  error  in  its  little  beginnings  ought  to  be 
taken  care  of  as  soon  as  it  is  perceived.     Through 

"5 


Il6  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

doing  this,  one  becomes  thoroughly  prepared  for 
complete  mastery  of  the  larger  ones  whenever 
they  present  themselves.  Neglect  of  the  little 
ones  will  create  inability  to  cope  with  the  greater. 
Indeed,  if  this  rule  is  followed,  the  greater  ones 
will  never  appear. 

It  is  equally  important  that  the  change  when 
once  made  should  be  steadfastly  maintained. 
If  the  erroneous  or  discordant  thought  returns, 
it  should  again  be  instantly  dismissed,  and  this 
should  be  repeated  with  every  return,  regardless 
of  its  frequency.  To  allow  its  continuance,  even 
for  the  briefest  moment,  means  greater  difficulty 
in  dealing  with  it.  There  should  be  no  dallying 
or  postponement.  The  old  German  proverb  is 
exactly  applicable  in  this  place:  "The  street  By- 
and-by  leads  to  the  house  Never." 

Professor  James  gives  such  a  vivid  illustration 
of  the  effect  of  failure  to  maintain  constant  control 
of  the  thinking  when  once  it  has  been  undertaken, 
and  of  the  extremely  slight  suggestion  which  may 
divert  one's  mind  into  its  former  channel,  that 
the  paragraph  is  inserted  here  because  of  the 
instruction  it  contains  for  those  who  are  striving 
after  mental  control.     He  says :  — 

"For    example,    I    am    reciting    Locksley   Hall 


PERSISTENCE  117 

in  order  to  divert  my  mind  from  a  state  of  sus- 
pense that  I  am  in  concerning  the  will  of  a  relative 
that  is  dead.  The  will  still  remains  in  the  mental 
background  as  an  extremely  marginal  and  ultra- 
marginal  portion  of  my  field  of  consciousness; 
but  the  poem  fairly  keeps  my  attention  from  it, 
until  I  come  to  the  line,  'I,  the  heir  of  all  the  ages, 
in  the  foremost  files  of  time.'  The  words,  'I, 
the  heir,'  immediately  make  an  electric  connec- 
tion with  the  marginal  thought  of  the  will;  that, 
in  turn,  makes  my  heart  beat  with  anticipation  of 
my  possible  legacy,  so  that  I  throw  down  the  book 
and  pace  the  floor  excitedly,  with  visions  of  my 
future  fortune  pouring  through  my  mind."1 

Emotions  are  simply  states  of  feeling  induced 
by  mental  conditions.  Control  of  the  thinking 
will  always  control  the  emotions.  Men  and 
women  who  do  not  exercise  this  control  as  they 
should,  thereby  allow  their  emotions  to  control 
them  to  their  own  destruction.  If  at  the  beginning 
they  had  controlled  their  thinking,  they  would 
have  avoided  the  whole  difficulty.  Christison 
writes,  italicizing  his  words:  "In  normal  mind 
it  can  be  controlled  by  the  power  of  the  will  to 
exclude  or  substitute  ideas  as  directed."2     Every 

1  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  87,  2  Brain  in  Relation  to  Mind,  p.  I2& 


Il8  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

emotion  becomes  fully  controllable  by  excluding 
from  the  mind  the  thoughts  which  produced  it. 
This  can  always  be  done  in  the  milder  forms  of 
thinking,  and  exercising  this  control  of  the  milder 
forms  will  produce  such  a  mental  state  that  vio- 
lent conditions  will  not  occur. 

Each  person  who  attempts  purposely  to  dismiss 
discordant  thinking  will  have  experiences  pecul- 
iar to  himself.  Some  thoughts  will  be  more  easily 
set  aside  than  others;  and  this  will  vary  with  his 
own  varying  mental  conditions.  Many  difficul- 
ties will  arise  because  his  thinking  heretofore  has 
been  allowed  to  run  on  without  direction  and 
subject  to  any  external  suggestion  which  prompted 
it;  others  because  he  approaches  the  new  course 
of  action  loaded  down  with  the  idea  that  it  requires 
strenuous  effort.  Habits  of  long  continuance  are 
not  destroyed  with  a  single  effort,  and  perfection 
of  mental  control  is  not  attained  at  once.  Many 
difficulties  are  sure  to  appear,  but  by  perseverance 
they  can  be  overcome.  The  work  will  be  less 
difficult  and  the  action  more  persistent  if  one 
realizes  that  the  advantages  to  be  gained  vastly 
outvalue  the  efforts  involved. 

As  a  matter  of  practice  it  will  be  best  to  begin 
with    that    inharmonious    thinking    which    seems 


PERSISTENCE  II9 

the  least  difficult  to  overcome.  The  wise  general 
strives  to  divide  the  forces  of  his  enemy  and 
attack  each  detachment  separately,  the  weakest 
one  first.  He  thus  defeats  them  more  easily 
because  his  own  strength  is  greater  than  that  of 
the  portion  of  the  foe  upon  which  all  his  efforts 
are  concentrated.  The  athlete  did  not  begin 
with  great  things  but  with  the  smaller  ones,  and 
in  the  practice  of  these  he  gained  the  strength  and 
wisdom  which  enabled  him  to  overcome  the 
larger  ones. 

It  is  best  to  follow  a  similar  method  in  mental 
training.  Divide  the  enemy  and  attack  the  weaker 
outposts  first.  These  overcome,  the  intrenched 
city  will  not  then  be  so  formidable.  Lift  the 
smaller  weight  which  is  suited  to  the  strength, 
and  the  exercise  will  prepare  one  for  the  heavier 
objects.  The  highest  mountain  peak  can  be 
scaled  only  by  first  ascending  the  smaller  elevations 
which  buttress  it. 

When  the  thought  that  seems  of  minor  impor- 
tance has  been  cut  off  and  cast  aside,  another  can 
be  undertaken,  and  then  another.  Facility  will 
come  with  practice,  and  what  was  begun  with 
difficulty  will  be  ended  with  ease.  Each  suc- 
ceeding task  may  be  only  a  little  more  difficult 


120  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

than  the  one  already  accomplished,  and  in  each 
he  will  find  advantages  arising  from  his  experi- 
ences with  the  former  ones.  Thus  the  work  may 
go  on  from  one  erroneous  thought  to  another  until 
all  discordant  thoughts  are  thrust  out. 

Each  morning  let  there  be  an  intentional  renewal 
of  confidence  for  the  dawning  hours.  Begin  the 
day  with  hopeful  consideration  of  the  subject. 
Recount  the  incidents  of  yesterday  and  make  an 
examination  of  the  methods  which  were  adopted 
to  avoid  failure  and  to  secure  success.  This  care- 
ful consideration  of  former  successful  efforts  will 
enlarge  the  understanding,  strengthen  the  confi- 
dence, and  materially  help  to  gain  greater  victories 
in  the  coming  day.  Rejoice  mentally  and  be 
glad  over  each  triumph.  Be  very  glad.  Glad- 
ness alone  invigorates  powerfully,  as  do  all  har- 
monious thoughts.  Cultivate  gladness.  Depres- 
sion disappears  just  in  proportion  as  one  cultivates 
gladness  and  serenity. 

It  is  probable  that  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
work  the  beginner  will  meet  with  some  surprises. 
Not  only  will  unexpected  difficulties  present  them- 
selves, and  that  which  he  expected  to  dispose  of 
easily  prove  very  persistent,  but  he  may  even  find 
himself   enjoying   and   really   desiring   to   continue 


PERSISTENCE  121 

his  indulgence  in  a  line  of  discordant  thinking 
which  heretofore  he  has  suspected  to  be  more  or 
less  objectionable,  and  which,  in  his  clearer  under- 
standing, he  now  knows  to  be  so.  In  these  expe- 
riences the  careful  observer  of  his  own  mental 
processes  will  gain  much  wisdom  and  many  a 
stimulant  which  will  aid  him  to  persist  in  his  efforts 
to  achieve  complete  success. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  danger  may  arise  from  dis- 
couragement. Under  the  stimulus  of  the  first 
enthusiasm  all  will  probably  go  well,  and  there 
will  be  many  successes  which  will  seem  wonderful 
and  which  may  encourage  the  beginner  to  think 
that  the  work  is  nearly  completed.  Possibly  the 
thought  may  occur  that  the  necessity  for  so 
much  vigilance  has  passed,  and  this  may  cause  a 
little  relaxation  of  attention  and  consequent  care- 
lessness; or  there  may  be  a  sense  of  effort  and 
weariness.  These  are  seductions  to  beware  of, 
because  they  are  quite  liable  to  be  succeeded  by 
slips  which  are  more  or  less  serious  and  difficult 
to  overcome,  and  disappointment  and  discourage- 
ment are  almost  sure  to  follow. 

This  is  an  important  place  in  the  course  of  men- 
tal training,  for  a  little  hesitation  and  a  little  slip- 
ping back  into  the  old  habits  which  are  so  seduc- 


122  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

tive  may  be  fatal  to  the  purpose  and  cause  the 
abandonment  of  further  effort.  At  the  least  it 
will  entail  the  necessity  for  greater  effort  than  has 
been  before  put  forth  in  order  to  recover  lost 
ground.  As  in  the  case  of  the  habitual  drinker 
who  is  trying  to  reform,  little  lapses,  if  allowed, 
are  almost  sure  to  lead  to  more  important  ones, 
and  it  will  require  more  strenuous  efforts  to  over- 
come them  than  were  requisite  at  the  start.  The 
danger  to  the  drinker  is  in  his  first  dram,  and  in 
this  training  the  serious  danger  is  in  allowing  the 
little  discordant  thought,  so  small  as  to  seem  of 
no  consequence  whatever,  to  continue  unchecked; 
but  however  great  the  task,  steady  persistence 
and  perseverance  are  sure  to  succeed  at  last. 


XV 

NOT    ALWAYS    EASY 

It  is  not  claimed  that  it  always  appears  to  be 
easy  to  change  the  thinking  in  response  to  one's 
own  choice  without  reference  to  external  sugges- 
tions, or,  as  must  often  be  the  case,  in  direct  oppo- 
sition to  them;  nor  will  one  acquire  in  a  day  the 
power  to  do  this  every  time  and  on  the  instant. 
An  established  habit  of  any  kind  is  not  broken 
by  a  few  feeble  attempts;  but  persistent,  faithful, 
determined  effort  will  overcome  the  most  dominant 
habit  that  ever  fastened  itself  on  a  human  being. 

The  single  condition  necessary  to  success  in  this 
mental  training  is  that  one  should  be  enough  in 
earnest  to  persist  in  the  repetition  of  the  effort 
every  time  the  excluded  thought  reappears.  The 
ability  to  do  this  is  in  itself  alone  extremely  valu- 
able even  if  there  were  no  other  consideration. 
Professor  James  well  says,  and  none  too  strongly: 
"The  faculty  of  bringing  back  the  wavering  atten- 
tion over  and  over  again  is  the  very  root  of  judg- 

123 


124  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

ment,  character,  and  will.  No  one  is  compos  sui 
if  he  have  it  not.  An  education  which  should 
improve  this  faculty  would  be  the  education  par 
excellence."  The  ability  to  do  this  is  at  the  basis 
of  success  in  securing  control  of  the  thinking,  and 
also  at  the  basis  of  every  success  in  life.  The 
method  of  doing  it,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  very 
perfection  of  simplicity  and  of  effectiveness  as 
well,  and  James  is  correct  when  he  says  that  this 
is  preeminently  the  best  education.  It  ought  to 
be  made  the  basis  of  all  education,  for  what  is 
learned  early  in  life  is  learned  easily.  It  Is,  how- 
ever, abundantly  worth  the  effort  no  matter  how 
difficult  it  may  be. 

One  item  of  great  importance  in  connection 
with  it  is  the  fact  that  for  its  prosecution  and 
attainment  one  does  not  require  salaried  teachers, 
nor  ponderous  books,  nor  any  outlay  beyond  the 
expenditure  of  one's  own  effort;  nor  does  it  re- 
quire any  change  of  living,  nor  absence  from  home, 
nor  from  any  occupation.  It  can  be  prosecuted 
anywhere,  under  any  circumstances,  and  in  con- 
nection with  any  other  employment.  One  may 
be  his  own  instructor;  indeed  he  must  be,  for 
another  cannot  instruct  him  in  this.  He  must 
himself  select  and  learn  his  own  lessons,  find  out 


NOT  ALWAYS   EASY  12$ 

and  correct  his  own  mistakes,  and,  indeed,  do  fo 
himself  all  that  a  teacher  would  do  for  him  in 
another  branch  of  training;  but  perseverance, 
persistence,  and  the  determination  to  succeed  will 
surely  overcome  all  difficulties  and  bring  success. 
Any  one  can  do  it.  The  whole  process  consists 
simply  in  ceasing  to  do  what  ought  not  to  be  done, 
and  in  repeating  that  process  whenever  necessary. 

The  fact  that  a  person  can  sometimes  success- 
fully control  his  thinking  proves  that  he  may  do 
it  every  time  that  he  really  so  desires.  What  a 
man  has  once  done  he  can  do  again.  This  fact 
is  of  the  utmost  importance  here,  because  it  indi- 
cates beyond  question  that  complete  success  is 
attainable  in  spite  of  all  difficulties.  He  has  only 
to  banish  the  discordant  thought  each  time  it 
returns.1 

The  one  who  is  in  earnest  and  persistently 
pursues  this  object  should  not  weary  in  it.  Inci- 
dents of  more  or  less  importance  will  present  them- 
selves from  time  to  time  through  the  whole  course, 
which  will  show  the  amount  of  progress  that  has 
been  made  and  the  value  of  what  has  already  been 
attained.     They  will  also  show  what  is  yet  to  be 

1  " '  I  am  only  telling  you,'  said  the  Tinker,  '  what  you  could  do 
if  you  tried.     Kittles  ain't  so  hard  to  mend  if  you  keep  on.'  " 


126  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

done  and  how  to  do  it.  It  will  be  strange  if  occa- 
sions do  not  arise  when  the  temptation  to  despair 
will  be  almost  overwhelming,  and  success  will 
seem  almost  impossible;  but  despair  is  one  of  the 
worst  of  discordant  thoughts  and  must  be  dis- 
missed instantly,  regardless  of  its  source  or  prov- 
ocation. There  may  also  be  incidents  which 
seem  like  failures,  but  they  may  all  be  overcome 
and  turned  into  successes.  Let  it  be  kept  steadily 
in  mind  that  "  difficulties  are  only  things  to  be 
overcome."  The  old  Chinese  proverb  says; 
"Remain  careful  to  the  end  as  in  the  beginning, 
and  you  will  not  fail  in  your  enterprise." 

The  only  possible  course  is  to  persevere  through 
everything.  There  is  no  field  of  action  wherein 
greater  or  more  valuable  results  can  be  achieved 
with  a  given  amount  of  effort.  The  way  is  straight 
and  narrow,  but  the  prize  at  the  end  is  as  great 
as  man  ever  struggled  for.  Paul  says  of  one  who 
is  seeking  better  things:  "Let  him  not  be  weary 
in  well  doing,  for  in  due  season  he  shall  reap  if  he 
faint  not."  And  we  need  never  forget,  for  it  is 
forever  true,  that  — 

"  We  always  may  be  what  we  might  have  been." 


XVI 

EFFECT  OF  THE  PHYSICAL  ATTITUDE 

The  character  of  the  outward  physical  expres- 
sion is  of  much  importance.  For  instance,  the 
influence  of  the  grief  thought  upon  the  body  is 
such  as  not  alone  to  cause  the  tears  to  flow,  but 
also  to  give  its  own  peculiar  expression  to  the  face, 
to  the  gestures,  and  even  to  the  attitude  of  the 
whole  body.  So,  likewise  with  the  opposite  emo- 
tions of  happiness,  joy,  or  serenity,  each  produces 
in  the  body  its  own  characteristic  expression. 
In  all  cases  the  body  follows  the  mind,  and  then 
the  mind  is  influenced  by  its  recognition  of  the 
bodily  conditions  caused  by  its  own  previous  action.1 

1  I  have  seen  a  person  thrown  into  feverish  conditions  by  his 
own  mental  actions,  and  then  frightened  when  he  recognized  the 
physical  conditions  which  his  own  mind  had  caused.  The  fright 
was  the  result  of  his  perception  of  the  fever,  was  caused  by  that 
perception  and  would  not  have  occurred  without  it.  If,  when  he 
perceived  the  fever,  he  had  also  recognized  its  cause,  there  would 
not  have  been  any  fear.  Hence,  though  we  speak  of  the  influence 
of  the  body  upon  the  mind,  that  influence  arises  from  and  is  caused 
by  mental  action,  namely,  the  mind's  perception  of  the  condition 
of  the  body, 

127 


128  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

This  bodily  action  upon  the  mind,  through 
its  recognition  of  physical  conditions,  is  so  strong 
that  if  the  bodily  attitude  natural  to  any  mental 
mood  is  purposely  assumed,  that  physical  atti- 
tude will  so  act  upon  the  mind  as  to  induce  those 
mental  conditions  which  would  normally  produce 
the  assumed  bodily  expression.  This  influence 
of  the  body  upon  the  mind  through  the  mind's 
own  action  may  be  used  for  the  control  and 
improvement  of  mental  conditions. 

The  normal  bodily  expression  for  cheerfulness 
is  an  erect  spinal  column,  the  head  well  poised, 
and  a  general  slightly  upward  direction  of  the 
eyes.  This  very  position  which  cheerfulness 
would  naturally  give  to  the  body  will  itself,  if  pur- 
posely assumed  and  maintained,  produce  cheer- 
fulness. In  fact,  the  mental  effect  resulting  from 
this  attitude  is  such  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  per- 
son to  continue  it  for  half  an  hour  in  walking  or 
any  other  physical  activity  and  remain  mentally 
depressed. 

One  who  is  seeking  to  banish  discordant  think- 
ing should  assume  that  bodily  attitude  or  expres- 
sion which  the  desired  harmonious  thinking 
would  naturally  produce.  Let  him  smile  whether 
he  feels  like  smiling  or  not.     Even  a  forced  smile 


EFFECT   OF   THE   PHYSICAL   ATTITUDE  1 29 

will  assist  toward  banishing  the  mental  discord. 
"Assume  a  virtue  if  you  have  it  not."  Force  a 
smile  that  a  spontaneous  one  may  follow.  It 
will  help  toward  the  introduction  of  harmonious 
thinking,  and  if  this  is  fostered  by  the  right  men- 
tal effort,  the  two  will  work  together  for  immediate 
success.  But  let  it  be  a  smile  and  not  a  grin;  at 
least  let  it  have  as  much  of  smile  and  as  little  of 
grin  as  possible.  No  one  can  force  a  smile  with- 
out producing  somewhat  of  the  smiling  thought, 
just  as  no  one  can  assume  the  attitude  of  cheer- 
fulness without  somewhat  of  cheerfulness  arising 
in  the  mind.  In  this  lies  a  large  part  of  the  rea- 
son why  the  bodily  attitude  or  expression  is  so 
efficacious  in  bringing  into  realization  the  desired 
mental  condition.  Behind  the  clouds  which  obscure 
the  vision  the  sun  is  always  shining,  and  one  need 
not  abide  in  the  shadow  except  by  his  own  choice. 

The  actor,  whether  in  public  or  private  life, 
can  achieve  full  success  only  by  producing  within 
himself  the  mental  conditions  he  would  repre- 
sent; and  in  like  manner  he  who  would  win  in 
mental  control  will  find  a  most  powerful  assistant 
toward  the  production  of  the  desired  mental  condi- 
tion by  assuming  the  physical  attitude  or  expression 
which  represents  the  thought  that  he  desires. 


I30  RIGHT  AND   WRONG   THINKING 

Professor  James,  in  his  Talks  to  Teachers, 
has  a  very  strong  paragraph  on  this  subject: 
"Thus,  the  sovereign  voluntary  path  of  cheerful- 
ness, if  our  spontaneous  cheerfulness  be  lost,  is 
to  sit  up  cheerfully,  to  look  round  cheerfully,  and 
to  act  and  speak  as  if  cheerfulness  were  already 
there.  If  such  conduct  does  not  make  you  soon 
feel  cheerful,  nothing  else  on  that  occasion  can. 
So,  to  feel  brave,  act  as  if  you  were  brave,  use  all 
your  will  to  that  end,  and  a  courage-fit  will  very 
likely  replace  the  fit  of  feai.  Again,  in  order  to 
feel  kindly  toward  a  person  to  whom  we  have  been 
inimical,  the  only  way  is  more  or  less  deliberately 
to  say  genial  things.  One  hearty  laugh  together 
will  bring  enemies  into  closer  communion  of  heart 
than  hours  spent  on  both  sides  in  inward  wrestling 
with  the  mental  demon  of  uncharitable  feeling. 
To  wrestle  with  a  bad  feeling  only  pins  our  atten- 
tion to  it,  and  keeps  it  still  potent  in  the  mind; 
whereas,  if  we  act  from  some  better  feeling,  the 
old  bad  feeling  soon  folds  its  tent  like  an  Arab 
and  silently  steals  away."1 

1  James  is  right  in  what  he  says  about  "  wrestling,"  and  the 
reader  will  note  that  the  dominant  idea  of  this  book  is  not  to 
wrestle  with  wrong  thinking,  but  to  drop  it  and,  having  thus  put  it 
out  of  the  mind,  let  it  alone  forever. 


EFFECT   OF   THE   PHYSICAL   ATTITUDE  131 

This  is  not  hypocrisy.  It  is  not  done  to  deceive, 
as  hypocrisy  is.  It  is  done  for  the  purpose  of 
banishing  wrong  thinking  —  it  does  it  —  and  that 
is  praiseworthy. 


xvn 

ALL   ONE'S   OWN   WORK 

This  work  of  excluding  discordant  thinking 
from  the  mind  does  not  involve  any  attempt  to 
proselyte  or  to  interfere  with  others  in  any  way. 
It  does  not  directly  concern  any  one  but  the  per- 
son who  is  engaged  in  the  work  for  himself,  and 
it  certainly  does  not  deal  with  any  one  else ;  neither 
ought  another  to  interfere  unless  asked,  because 
such  interference  would  not  only  be  an  imperti- 
nence but  a  hindrance.  Walt  Whitman  stated 
the  case  clearly  arid  concisely  when  he  wrote:  — 

"  No  one  can  acquire  for  another  —  not  one. 
No  one  can  grow  for  another  —  not  one." 

This  is  true  because  one  cannot  either  see,  hear, 
or  think  for  another,  but  each  must  do  these  things 
for  himself.  Because  one's  thinking  is  entirely 
his  own  and  cannot  by  any  possibility  be  another's, 
whatever  is  involved  in  thinking  with  all  its  con- 
tingencies   and    consequences    is    necessarily    one's 

132 


ALL   ONE'S   OWN   WORK  1 33 

own  and  depends  exclusively  upon  one's  own 
efforts;  but  the  exclusion  of  discordant  thoughts 
and  the  ushering  in  of  harmonious  ones  is  the 
business  of  thinking  solely,  and  therefore  it  belongs 
to  one's  own  self  and  cannot  be  delegated  to 
another.  The  actual  cleansing  of  the  temple 
must  be  one's  own  work. 

Other  things  depend  more  or  less  on  the  action 
of  some  one  else  to  hinder  or  to  help,  but  a  man's 
thoughts  need  not  depend  in  the  least  upon  what 
another  does,  or  says,  or  thinks.  A  man's  mind 
is  a  domain  where,  unless  he  consents,  no  one  but 
himself  can  enter,  and  he  need  not  allow  another 
to  have  the  slightest  control  over  it.  His  think- 
ing is  his  own  and  never  another's,  and  another's 
need  never  be  his  unless  he  chooses  to  accept  it; 
therefore  the  responsibility  is  all  his  own  also, 
but  the  compensation  for  that  lies  in  the  fact  that 
his  action  may  be  unimpeded  and  uninfluenced  — 
free. 

The  law,  in  the  person  of  an  officer,  can  take 
charge  of  one's  body  and  transport  it  from  place 
to  place  or  lock  it  up  in  prison,  can  dispose  of  a 
man's  property  as  it  sees  fit,  and  may  compel  him 
to  do  many  things  which  he  himself  does  not  wish 
to  do;    but  unless  he  allows  it,  no  human  power 


134  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

can  enter  his  mind  to  interfere  with  his  thinking. 
A  man's  thoughts  are  his  own  until  he  gives  them 
utterance,  and  in  the  world  of  his  own  mind  each 
man  may  reign  supreme.  It  is  the  divine  right 
of  every  human  being  to  think  as  he  pleases.1 

More  important  than  the  old  poet  imagined 
was  the  truth  he  uttered  when  he  said:  "My 
mind  to  me  a  kingdom  is,"  and  he  would  have 
added  to  the  accuracy  and  power  of  the  expression 
if  he  had  said:  "My  mind  to  me  my  kingdom  is." 
A  man's  mind  is  indeed  his  own  kingdom,  and  he 
ought  never  to  allow  it  to  become  the  kingdom  of 
another  wherein  he  himself  is  a  subject.  If  a  man 
has  trained  his  thinking,  he  may  declare  more 
truly  than  the  lone  Selkirk:  — 

"  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 
My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute." 

All  this  is  most  favorable  to  the  prosecution  of 
mental  training,  because  it  places  the  whole  work 
of   development    in    one's  own    hands,  unimpeded 

1  Holding  to  this  principle,  but  forgetting  that  a  divine  right 
relates  to  divine  things,  it  has  been  widely  held  that  a  man  has  the 
right  to  think  what  he  pleases,  provided  his  thoughts  have  no  out- 
ward expression  in  word  or  deed ;  but  the  conclusion  is  irresistible 
that  a  man  has  no  more  right  to  think  wrong  thoughts  than  he  has 
to  do  wrong  deeds.  Immoral  thinking  should  be  held  in  abeyance 
as  inflexibly  as  immoral  action,  for  it  is  the  root  of  all  immorality. 


all  one's  own  work  135 

and  uninfluenced  by  others.  A  modern  writer 
has  truly  said,  though  with  a  note  of  sadness  which 
does  not  belong  to  it,  that  "in  all  its  deepest  expe- 
riences the  soul  is  solitary.  Every  crucial  choice 
must  be  solitary."  Though  this  mental  solitari- 
ness is  a  necessity,  it  does  not  cause  a  man  to  hold 
aloof  from  others,  nor  does  it  prohibit  one  single 
valuable  social  pleasure  or  advantage;  but  it  is 
a  boon,  and  a  glory  as  well,  and  it  may  bring  a 
consciousness  of  power,  dominion,  and  freedom 
that  cannot  come  from  any  other  source.  He, 
who  has  trained  his  mind  to  obey  his  own  behests 
and  has  asserted  and  realized  his  rightful  mental 
supremacy  over  himself,  can  better  enjoy  contact 
with  his  fellows  and  can  reap  greater  advantage 
from  association  with  them.  Over  him  there  can- 
not be  any  domination  by  others,  whatever  their 
course,  and  he  will  enjoy  a  freedom  that  nothing 
but  mental  control  can  give. 

Here  at  last  is  ideal  freedom,  which,  when  coupled 
with  recognition  of  the  self-control  which  is  insep- 
arable from  it,  gives  man  a  sense  of  ability  to  be 
and  to  do  such  as  nothing  else  can.  The  greatest 
strength  lies  in  the  vivid  realization  of  this  fact 
when  one  really  awakes  to  its  existence.  He  can 
himself,  as  he  chooses,   thrust  aside  impediments 


I36  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

within  himself  without  interfering  with  another, 
and  with  no  one  to  interfere  with  his  action  or  to 
ask  why.  This  ability  is  not  to  be  spasmodically 
expressed,  but  is  always  to  be  steadily  maintained. 
In  nothing  else  does  man  need  to  be  alone,  but 
here  he  stands  entirely  alone  and  yet  without  any 
sense  of  loneliness;  indeed,  this  very  aloneness 
may  become  one  of  his  greatest  blessings,  for, 
having  banished  discordant  thoughts,  here  one 
may,  as  Emerson  directs,  "stay  at  home  in  his 
heaven."  The  results  for  good  may  reach  out 
into  the  vast  unknown  of  humanity  in  unexpected 
and  undreamed-of  ways  which  were  never  planned. 


XVIII 

DESTRUCTION   OF   DISCORDANT 
THOUGHTS 

The  advantage  and  efficiency  of  the  course  here 
advocated  rest  in  large  part  upon  the  important 
fact,  perhaps  not  often  noted,  that  those  things 
a  person  is  not  thinking  about  are,  to  him,  at  the 
time,  as  though  they  did  not  exist.  Thus,  through 
forgetfulness,  an  object  or  an  idea  passes  entirely 
out  of  consciousness,  and,  to  the  thinker,  during 
the  time  of  forgetfulness,  it  is  as  though  it  had 
never  existed.  It  can  be  brought  back  by  recol- 
lection, when  the  thinker  will  once  more  have  it 
in  mind;  that  is,  by  the  mental  action  it  will  again 
become  to  him  a  reality. 

The  mere  sight  of  a  thing  is  not  what  gives  it 
reality,  for  to  the  sight  of  it  must  be  added  con- 
sciousness of  that  sight.  This  consciousness  is 
itself  a  form  of  thinking  which  must  take  place 
before  the  thing  becomes  a  reality  to  the  one  who 
sees  it;  therefore  before  it  enters  into  consciousness 

137 


138  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

and  after  it  passes  out  of  consciousness  it  does  not 
exist  to  the  thinker. 

We  laugh  at  the  person  who  becomes  so  absorbed 
in  some  special  thought  as  to  be  wholly  unaware 
of  everything  else.  To  him,  at  the  time,  the  one 
thing  he  is  thinking  about  is  all  there  is  in  exist- 
ence. On  the  other  hand,  he  may  be  thinking 
so  intently  as  to  make  a  thing  real  to  him  even 
in  its  absence.  A  man  was  accustomed  to  shave 
himself  every  morning  before  a  mirror  which  had 
hung  for  a  long  time  in  one  particular  place.  The 
mirror  was  removed,  but  for  several  days  he  went 
as  usual  to  the  same  place  and  shaved  himself 
without  accident,  just  as  he  had  done  when  the 
mirror  was  there;  but  one  morning  his  attention 
was  called  to  the  absence  of  the  mirror,  and  he  cut 
himself  when  he  thus  was  made  aware  that  he  no 
longer  had  its  assistance.  To  those  who  are  spe- 
cially intent  on  one  particular  thing,  the  only  thing 
that  exists  is  the  one  they  are  thinking  about,  and 
that  is  existent  to  them  whether  it  is  to  others  or 
not.  The  only  difference  between  such  a  man 
and  the  ordinary  person  lies  solely  in  the  fact  that 
he  is  recalled  to  consciousness  of  existent  condi- 
tions with  more  difficulty  than  others  are. 

Every  one  has  sometimes  been  so  engrossed  as 


DESTRUCTION   OF   DISCORDANT   THOUGHTS      1 39 

to  be  wholly  unaware  of  things  going  on  around 
him;  but  this  only  indicates  intense  mental  atten- 
tion in  one  direction  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  all 
else.  Many  a  person  has  become  so  absorbed 
in  a  game  of  cards  as  to  lose  all  consciousness  of 
pain,  and  some  have  indulged  in  the  game  that 
they  might  make  themselves  oblivious  to  both 
physical  and  mental  suffering.  This  is  a  form 
of  forgetf ulness ;  the  thought  is  no  longer  in  the 
mind,  and,  having  passed  out  of  the  mind,  it  no 
longer  creates  discord  nor  generates  injurious 
chemical  substances  in  the  body.  When  this  is 
made  permanent  it  is  called  healing;  and  the  per- 
son who  has  trained  himself  so  that  he  has  com- 
plete control  over  his  mind  can  make  it  permanent 
without  the  excitement  of  a  game  of  cards. 

Things  are  real  to  the  thinker  because  they  are 
in  his  mind,  and  it  makes  no  difference  to  him 
how  unreal  they  may  be  if  he  believes  them  to  be 
real.  This  is  illustrated  by  all  those  who  labor 
under  hallucinations.  Non-existent  things  are 
real  to  such  persons,  and  often  they  are  so  intently 
engaged  in  these  unrealities  and  believe  in  them 
to  such  an  extent  as  not  to  be  aware  of  the  realities 
which  are  pressing  them. 

But  we  do  not  need  to  go  to  the  insane  for  ex- 


140  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

amples.  He  who  is  fully  persuaded  that  his  friend 
is  false,  however  untrue  that  may  be,  is  in  the 
same  condition  both  mentally  and  physically  as 
if  it  were  true.  The  world  is  full  of  such  incidents, 
and  they  have  come  within  the  observation  of 
every  one.  It  is  thinking  that  makes  the  thing 
real,  and  in  the  absence  of  that  thinking  it  does 
not  exist. 

Two  things  are  to  be  noted  in  this  connection. 
First,  absence  of  the  reality  from  the  mind  does 
not  destroy  that  reality;  it  only  makes  it  unreal 
to  the  one  who  is  not  thinking  about  it  —  makes 
it,  to  him,  as  unreal  as  though  it  did  not  exist. 
Second,  presence  of  the  unreality  in  the  mind 
does  not  make  it  a  reality.  It  is  real  only  to  the 
thinker;  but,  being  real  to  him,  its  effects  on  him 
are  the  same  as  though  it  were  indeed  a  reality. 
It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  a  man  who  thought 
he  was  bleeding  to  death  died  from  the  thought, 
though  he  had  not  lost  a  drop  of  blood ;  and  there 
are  thousands  of  similar  unnoted  and  unrecorded 
instances. 

The  practice  of  substituting  one  thought  for 
another  is  admirable  and  is  not  to  be  abandoned 
until  something  better  can  be  done,  but  destruc- 
tion of  the  discordant  thought  would  be  a  far  more 


DESTRUCTION   OF   DISCORDANT   THOUGHTS      141 

effectual  method.  The  exclusion  of  a  thought 
from  the  mind  is,  for  the  thinker,  its  destruction 
while  it  is  excluded;  and  its  continuous  exclusion, 
so  that  it  should  never  return,  would  be  its  com- 
plete destruction  for  him.  This  is  the  supreme 
result  of  constant  practice  in  the  exclusion  of  erro- 
neous or  discordant  thoughts.  If  it  is  an  erroneous 
thought,  or  a  thought  of  error,  the  error  is  thus 
for  him  literally  and  completely  destroyed.  If 
the  whole  world  would  thus  exclude  the  erroneous 
thought,  it    would   no   longer   have   any  existence. 

The  correctness  of  this  statement  is  more  readily 
perceived  in  those  cases  which  concern  an  erro- 
neous belief  in  the  existence  of  something  which 
is  easily  recognizable  as  non-existent,  such  as 
the  supposed  falsity  of  a  friend  who  is  not  false. 
While  that  falsity  is  a  fact  to  the  one  who  thoroughly 
believes  it,  still  its  destruction  is  complete  the 
instant  the  thought  is  dropped  out  of  mind,  and 
if  the  thought  is  dropped  forever,  then  the  destruc- 
tion is  forever.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
fear  of  an  impending  disaster  which  will  never 
occur.  Such  fear  can  be  so  completely  dismissed 
from  the  mind  that  it  is  utterly  destroyed.  It  is 
the  same  with  all  erroneous  thoughts. 

The  two  methods  of  substitution  and  destruction 


142  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

work  together;  substitution  sustaining  and  assist- 
ing the  work,  and,  if  persisted  in,  finally  resulting 
in  total  obliteration  of  the  objectionable  thoughts. 
Some  one  has  truly  said  that  more  than  nine- 
tenths  of  the  ills  of  life  are  occasioned  by  anxiety 
(thinking)  about  events  that  never  happen. 
Neither  the  things  nor  the  anxiety  exist  except 
in  thought.  Then  if  that  thought  is  put  out  of 
mind,  or  destroyed,  those  ills  disappear  forever. 
They  are  destroyed.1 

Though  it  is  only  a  thought  that  is  destroyed,  yet 
in  that  thought  exists  a  cause;  and  let  it  not  be  for- 
gotten that  every  discordant  thought  is  the  cause  of 
discordant  mental  and  bodily  conditions,  and  the 
cause  being  destroyed,  the  consequences  do  not  ap- 
pear, so  that  literally  the  destruction  of  discordant 
or  erroneous  thinking  is  the  destruction  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  wrong  conditions.  The  man  who  quits 
lying  can  do  nothing  else  but  tell  the  truth ;  so,  too, 

1  The  saddest  fact  in  the  world  is  sin,  however  it  may  he  ac- 
counted for.  But  here  is  a  method  whereby  it  may  be  destroyed, 
and  this  is  the  method  of  Jesus,  the  Christ.  (See  last  chapter.) 
He  would  have  us  put  all  error  (and  that  includes  all  sin)  out  of 
the  mind  completely.  To  do  this  is  the  essential  of  forgiveness, 
because  to  forgive  means  to  put  away;  and  when  we  have  put  away 
from  ourselves  (by  putting  them  out  of  mind)  our  own  errors  and 
the  errors  of  others,  they  will  not  any  longer  exist  to  trouble  us. 
When  every  one  does  this,  there  will  no  longer  be  any  sin. 


DESTRUCTION   OF    DISCORDANT   THOUGHTS      1 43 

he  who  destroys  the  discordant  thoughts  cannot  do 
otherwise  than  think  harmonious  ones,  and  the 
destruction  of  all  discordant  thoughts  would  leave 
in  existence  only  those  which  are  harmonious. 
This  would  result  in  the  production  of  none  but 
harmonious  actions  and  the  establishment  of  har- 
monious conditions  without  any  discordant  ones 
to  interfere.  This  is  the  grand  ultimate  object.  It 
can  be  attained  through  mental  control,  and  thus 
men  may  rid  themselves  of  more  of  the  ills  of  life 
and  gain  more  of  its  advantages  than  one  who  has 
not  tried  it  would  believe  possible. 


XIX 
SCYLLA  AND   CHARYBDIS 

While  avoiding  Scylla  the  ancient  Grecian 
mariner  had  to  beware  lest  he  wreck  on  Charybdis. 
In  the  attempt  to  avoid  certain  discordant  thoughts 
one  must  beware  lest  he  fall  into  indulgence  in  others 
of  similar  character  which  may  arise  in  connection 
with  the  effort. 

It  will  be  strange  if  disturbing  thoughts  do  not 
sometimes  present  themselves,  but  mental  disquiet 
of  any  kind  must  not  for  any  reason  be  allowed  in 
any  part  of  the  process.  That  discouragement 
which  comes  from  occasional  or  even  frequent  fail- 
ure must  be  dismissed  as  promptly  as  were  the  first 
discordant  thoughts;  neither  must  it  be  recognized 
as  failure,  but  only  as  an  incident  in  a  process  which 
will  terminate  in  success.  Thus  will  be  established 
more  securely  and  easily  the  habit  which  probably 
was  more  than  half  formed  when  the  discouragement 
arose. 

Along  with  the  sense  of  disappointment  and  regret 
144 


SCYLLA  AND  CHARYBDIS  1 45 

at  temporary  or  incidental  failure,  and  suggested  by 
it,  is  quite  likely  to  come  self-condemnation,  and  this 
may  be  followed  by  grief,  anxiety,  discouragement, 
and  even  despair.  They  never  assist  in  the  least; 
they  always  hinder.  It  is  not  necessary  to  blame 
one's  self  in  order  to  correct  an  error  which  has  been 
made.  No  man  is  helped  to  be  better  by  grieving 
over  the  things  he  has  done.  Getting  rid  of  one  evil 
is  no  advantage  if  another  quite  as  bad  is  allowed  to 
arise  in  its  place. 

Ruskin  states  one  side  of  the  case  correctly,  clearly, 
and  strongly  when  he  says:  "Do  not  think  of  your 
faults;  still  less  of  others'  faults;  in  every  person 
that  comes  near  you  look  for  what  is  good  and  strong ; 
honor  that,  rejoice  in  it;  and,  as  you  can,  try  to  imi- 
tate it,  and  your  faults  will  drop  off  like  dead  leaves 
when  their  time  comes." 

A  sense  of  the  responsibility  or  of  the  burden  of 
the  work  should  not  be  allowed  in  connection  with 
the  attempt  to  exclude,  discordant  thinking,  nor 
should  there  be  any  vestige  of  a  thought  of  anxiety 
lest  the  ejected  thought  return  to  create  another 
state  of  mental  disquiet.  If  these  are  allowed,  the 
second  state  of  that  man  will  be  worse  than  the  first, 
because  he  will  be  weighed  down  by  two  kinds  of 
erroneous  thinking  instead  of  one.     Even  though 


I46  RIGHT   AND  WRONG    THINKING 

le  may  have  successfully  banished  one  set  of  thoughts 
of  which  he  wished  to  rid  himself,  he  will  find  that 
he  has  enslaved  himself  to  another  group  as  bad  as 
the  first.  To  allow  such  thoughts  to  spring  up 
alongside  the  attempt  to  weed  out  others  is  not 
to  clear  the  field  of  discordant  thinking,  but  to  change 
from  one  set  of  intruders  to  another ;  or,  worse  than 
that,  to  introduce  another  set,  and  this  is  the  exact 
reverse  of  the  object  aimed  at.  No  one  thought  of 
the  discordant  class  should  be  admitted  any  more 
than  another,  and  there  is  no  more  reason  or  justi- 
fication for  harboring  one  than  another;  still  less 
is  there  any  reason  for  allowing  two.  So  far  as  any 
one  of  them  is  allowed  it  defeats  mental  control  and 
its  advantages  just  as  effectually  as  would  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  original  erroneous  thoughts. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  mental  training  strenuous 
effort  may  seem  unavoidable,  but  with  persistent 
practice  better  mental  conditions  will  be  established, 
so  that  in  most  cases  the  change  of  thinking  may  be 
accomplished  without  appreciable  effort.  From  the 
very  first  the  thought  that  there  may  be  any  necessity 
for  such  effort  should  be  banished  as  far  as  possible, 
because  it  induces  more  or  less  dread  of  the  under- 
taking and  doubt  of  its  success.  Consciousness  of 
effort  detracts  from  the  ideal  of  the  perfect  action, 


SCYLLA   AND  CHARYBDIS  1 47 

and  complete  success  is  not  reached  until  the  change 
of  thought  can  be  made  without  it. 

The  desired  object  may  be  accomplished  thor- 
oughly by  entering  into  that  perfect  mental  freedom 
which  arises  from  such  exclusive  devotion  to  the 
work  of  the  moment  as  to  shut  out  all  other  con- 
siderations, and  to  leave  all  the  time  and  strength 
for  the  business  in  hand.  Indeed,  this  work  when 
rightly  done  is  done  so  quickly  in  each  succeeding 
experience  that  there  is  neither  time  nor  opportunity 
for  any  other  disturbing  mental  conditions  than 
those  to  which  the  effort  was  first  directed.  All  this 
may  be  accomplished  without  any  diminution  of 
activity  or  energy ;  instead  there  will  be  an  increase 
of  effectiveness  in  all  right  directions. 


XX 

MORAL  DISCRIMINATION 

To  stop  thinking  discordant  thoughts  does  not 
necessitate  change  of  former  conclusions  as  to  the 
kind,  character,  quality,  or  conditions  of  any  subject 
under  consideration;  these  should  remain  undis- 
turbed unless  sufficient  reasons  appear  for  making  a 
change.  A  man  may  refrain  from  striking  the  person 
he  hates  without  changing  his  opinion  of  that  man's 
character ;  and  in  like  manner  one  may  refrain  from 
angry  or  otherwise  discordant  thinking  without  at- 
tempting to  persuade  himself  that  the  other  person 
is  praiseworthy. 

One  is  not  in  the  least  aided,  but  rather  is  he  hin- 
dered, in  his  attempts  toward  harmonious  thinking 
by  calling  black  white,  bad  good,  wrong  right,  or  in 
any  way  trying  to  persuade  himself  into  an  incorrect 
opinion.  Such  a  course  would  falsify  and  degrade 
one's  standard  of  right,  and  that  must  necessarily 
always  be  a  serious  disadvantage.  It  is  lying  to 
himself,  because  even  while  he  says  an  enemy  is  a 

148 


MORAL    DISCRIMINATION  149 

friend  he  knows  he  is  not;  and  though  all  lying  is 
wrong,  if  there  is  any  difference  at  all,  it  is  worse  to 
lie  to  one's  self  than  to  any  one  else. 

The  search  for  the  good  in  everything  should  not 
be  degraded  into  an  attempt  to  see  everything  as 
good  or  to  think  that  bad  is  good.  Such  a  course 
would  confuse  the  judgment  as  to  what  is  good  and 
what  is  not  good.  There  is  already  too  much  of  that. 
All  ideas  on  these  subjects  should  be  kept  as  clear, 
positive,  and  distinct  as  possible;  and  the  line  of 
demarcation  between  the  two  should  always  remain 
undisturbed.  Good  is  good  and  bad  is  bad  whatever 
may  be  said  or  thought  about  them.  If  the  bad 
presents  itself,  it  should  be  recognized,  understood, 
and  known  in  its  true  character  so  as  to  be  avoided ; 
but  this  may  be  done  without  discordant  thinking 
of  any  kind  whatever,  and  with  the  conscious  cer- 
tainty that  the  good  is  close  at  hand. 

One  can  never  afford  to  think  that  bad  is  good,  nor 
that  his  own  defect  is  desirable,  nor  that  his  mis- 
fortune is  in  itself  an  advantage ;  neither  of  them  is 
ever  a  necessity,  not  even  to  teach  lessons,  because 
if  one's  understanding  is  sufficient,  he  may  learn  the 
lesson  beforehand,  and  that  will  enable  him  to  avoid 
the  adverse  circumstances.  Every  one  should  stop 
condemning  the  bad  man,  should  stop  being  angry  at 


150  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

the  ill  turn  his  friend  has  done  him,  should  stop  his 
regret  for  the  misfortune  which  overtook  him,  and 
stop  self-condemnation  because  of  his  own  defect  — 
should,  in  fact,  stop  all  discordant  thinking  about 
anything  and  everything  —  and  he  may  do  all  this 
without  any  change  of  his  opinion  about  the  object, 
the  person,  or  the  affair.  When  this  is  done,  he  can 
look  at  any  and  all  things  justly  and  fairly,  see  them 
as  they  are,  learn  all  that  is  to  be  learned  about  them, 
arrive  at  correct  conclusions,  decide  what  is  right  or 
advisable  to  do  under  the  circumstances,  and  then 
act  upon  his  decision. 

The  true  character  of  every  error  or  mistake  which 
one  may  make  should  be  correctly  understood  and 
properly  appreciated;  but  this  can  be  accomplished 
better  and  with  more  clearness,  certainty,  and  ac- 
curacy without  discordant  thinking  than  with  it. 
Avoidance  of  such  thoughts  does  not  imply  avoidance 
of  a  correct  understanding  of  the  rightful  value  and 
character  of  the  things  with  which  one  has  come  in 
contact.  The  instant  which  has  passed,  the  mistake 
which  has  been  made,  the  sin  which  has  been  com- 
mitted —  all  these  things  should  be  divested  of  every 
gloss  of  circumstance  and  of  every  fictitious  appear- 
ance, and  then  they  should  be  studied  carefully  and 
exhaustively  so  that  they  may  be  correctly  under- 


MORAL   DISCRIMINATION  151 

stood  as  they  really  are,  to  the  end  that  in  the  future 
they  may  be  more  easily  avoided.  This  is  reason- 
able and  practical,  and  conduct  is  thus  more  wisely 
directed  and  becomes  vastly  more  efficient. 

There  need  not  be  any  fear  that  those  who  per- 
sistently attempt  to  exclude  discordant  thinking  will 
lose  their  recognition  of  the  difference  between  right 
and  wrong  because  of  such  exclusion.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  mental  training  here  proposed  will  bring  a 
keener  perception  of  those  differences  because  the 
practice  of  discrimination  between  the  erroneous 
and  discordant  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  true  and 
harmonious  on  the  other,  is  necessary  to  successful 
prosecution  of  the  work.  Indeed,  no  correct  action 
can  be  taken  under  the  rule  without  more  or  less  of 
such  discrimination;  and,  as  a  necessary  result  of 
the  exercise  of  such  discrimination,  one  must  become 
possessed  of  an  increased  keenness  and  accuracy  of 
discernment,  and  therefore  of  judgment,  as  to  the 
true  character  of  his  thoughts  and  acts  as  well  as  a 
clearer  insight  into  the  moral  qualities  of  his  thinking. 
These  desirable  conditions  will  steadily  increase  as 
he  progresses.  He  will  come  to  understand  clearly 
where  before  he  doubted.  Some  things  which 
before  were  accepted  as  right  will  be  questioned 
until,  finally,  they  will  be  better  understood  and 


152  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

consequently  rejected  as  wrong;  and  other  things 
which  were  once  thought  to  be  wrong  may  later  be 
found  to  be  right.  To  one  desiring  to  know  what  is 
right  (and  every  one  in  his  best  moments  does)  this 
method  will  be  most  valuable. 

In  pursuing  this  course  will  be  found  an  exem- 
plification of  Jesus'  declaration:  "Whosoever  will 
do  [chooses  to  do]  His  [God's]  will,  shall  know  of 
the  doctrine  [teaching]."  The  same  thought 
changed  into  different  words  might  read:  Who- 
soever really  and  earnestly  chooses  to  do  right  and 
perseveres  in  doing  it  shall  learn  how. 


XXI 

A  LITTLE  ANALYSIS  AND  ITS 
APPLICATION 

Perhaps  more  often  than  otherwise  discordant 
thinking  is  provoked  by  some  incident,  condition, 
or  thing  external  to  one's  self.  The  connection  in 
the  mind  between  thoughts  and  their  causes  is  very 
close,  but  there  are  two  kinds  of  these  thoughts,  — 
those  which  are  simply  thoughts  about  the  occur- 
rence without  any  quality  of  discord  whatever,  and 
those  which  are  also  thoughts  about  the  occurrence 
but  which  are  discordant  in  their  character.  These 
are  entirely  distinct,  therefore  dismissal  of  the  dis- 
cordant thoughts  does  not  necessitate  dismissal  of 
all  thought  connected  with  an  incident  any  more 
than  throwing  out  the  decayed  fruit  necessitates 
throwing  out  the  perfect  fruit  also. 

So  complicated  has  become  the  ordinary  life  of 
to-day  that  very  little  of  our  thinking  is  simple. 
Analysis  shows  that  all  our  thoughts  are  more  or  less 
complex,  being  made  up  by  the  union  of  a  multitude 

*53 


154  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

of  elements,  each  with  its  distinct  characteristics. 
These  may  run  along  together  in  seemingly  inextri- 
cable union,  yet  they  are  distinct  and  do  not  in  the 
slightest  depend  upon  each  other  for  existence. 
Such  of  these  elements  as  are  discordant  may  be 
wholly  excluded  from  the  mind  without  any  inter- 
ference with  the  others  and  without  any  loss  of 
efficiency  either  in  thinking  or  in  acting,  but  with  a 
decided  advantage  to  both. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  objects,  duties,  and 
requirements  from  which  discordant  thoughts  seem 
to  spring  are  to  be  abandoned,  nor  that  a  person  is 
to  stop  thinking  about  them ;  it  only  means  that  one 
should  eliminate  the  discordant  thoughts  which  may 
arise  in  connection  with  them.  There  is  a  wide 
difference  between  thinking  about  an  object  or 
occurrence  in  a  harmonious  manner,  as  one  ought, 
and  thinking  discordantly,  as  one  ought  not. 

These  two  kinds  of  thinking  run  so  close  alongside 
each  other  that  in  the  prosecution  of  mental  control 
it  sometimes  appears  necessary  to  stop  all  thinking 
about  the  provoking  cause.  In  earlier  attempts 
this  method  is  often  the  best  and  most  successful. 
If  all  thinking  about  the  subject  is  put  out  of  mind 
for  a  little  time,  one  will  find  that  later  he  can  enter 
upon  a  full  consideration  of  it  without  introducing 


A   LITTLE   ANALYSIS   AND  ITS   APPLICATION       155 

any  discordant  mental  conditions  whatever,  and  the 
proper  consideration  of  the  subject  can  then  be 
undertaken  with  a  good  prospect  of  arriving  at 
correct  results. 

It  is  only  after  all  such  thoughts  have  been  swept 
away  that  the  mind  is  prepared  for  a  keen,  just,  and 
fair  examination  of  the  situation;  the  whole  field 
can  then  be  clearly  surveyed,  and  the  best  possible 
decision  made  concerning  the  conditions  and  the 
course  to  be  pursued  in  connection  with  them. 

A  person's  friend  may  have  acted  improperly 
toward  him,  and  he  may  recognize  that  he  is  himself 
stirred  by  it  to  anger,  regret,  grief,  or  some  other 
kind  of  discordant  thinking.  This  should  be  dis- 
missed without  a  moment's  hesitation.  Every  one 
has  experienced  the  physical  sensations  which  suc- 
ceed such  thinking,  and  this  dismissal  should  be  so 
instantaneous  and  so  complete  that  no  "feeling" 
will  follow  the  recognition  of  the  incident.  Mere 
mental  attention  to  this  discordant  " feeling"  dis- 
turbs the  current  of  harmonious  thinking  even  if 
there  were  nothing  else  to  interfere. 

When  the  discordant  thoughts  are  completely 
excluded,  one  can  make  an  accurate  investigation  of 
the  incident.  How  did  it  happen?  What  was  the 
cause  ?    Who  was  to  blame  ?    Had  he  himself  done 


156  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

anything  to  provoke  his  friend  to  such  a  course? 
What  is  right  and  therefore  best  to  do  under  the  cir- 
cumstances? These  and  many  other  questions  will 
present  themselves  for  decision,  but  not  one  of  them 
should  be  allowed  to  provoke  any  mental  discord, 
because,  just  in  proportion  to  its  intensity  would  that 
discord  inevitably  tend  toward  inaccuracy  of  think- 
ing and  consequent  erroneous  conclusions;  but  in 
its  absence  one  may  judge  coolly  and  calmly  and  act 
wisely. 

Avoidance  of  discordant  thinking  does  not  mean 
neglect  of  any  duty  nor  shirking  of  any  right  under- 
taking. On  the  contrary,  it  means  more  vigorous 
and  efficient  activity  in  the  discharge  of  every  right 
duty  or  obligation  and  more  complete  and  effective 
accomplishment  of  every  right  object.  It  means 
removal  of  a  large  class  of  serious  mental  and  physi- 
cal hindrances  to  activity  and  efficiency.  It  means 
avoidance  of  all  the  physical  discords  and  discomforts 
which  are  brought  upon  one's  self  by  the  useless 
impediments  produced  by  discordant  thinking.  It 
means  dispensing  with  the  useless  and  injurious  in 
order  that  there  may  be  more  time  and  energy  for 
the  beneficial  and  valuable.  To  cease  such  thinking 
will  leave  mind  and  body  clear,  strong,  able,  and  ready 
to  do  more  and  better  work  along  all  right  lines. 


A   LITTLE   ANALYSIS   AND   ITS   APPLICATION       1 57 

We  look  upon  the  evils  of  to-day  and  are  more  or 
iess  disturbed  by  them,  and  the  more  closely  they  are 
related  to  us  the  more  considerable  is  our  discordant 
thinking  and  consequent  discordant  and  injurious 
emotion.  We  look  upon  the  evils  of  a  past  century 
and  learn  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  them 
with  only  a  mild  wave  of  discord.  As  we  walk  we 
note  the  obstacle  in  the  path,  perhaps  with  regret, 
or  anger,  or  condemnation  of  the  man  who  placed 
it  there,  perhaps  even  with  despair  at  our  inability 
to  pass  it ;  or,  we  may  so  control  ourselves  that  we 
do  not  have  the  slightest  mental  disquiet,  and,  be- 
cause of  the  absence  of  that  discord,  we  find  our  way 
past  it  all  the  more  readily.  We  may  so  train  our 
thinking  that  finally,  by  habit  thoroughly  established, 
we  shall  have  no  more  discordant  thoughts  about 
any  event  than  we  have  about  those  which  happened 
thousands  of  years  ago,  or  about  those  of  the  present 
time  which  do  not  in  the  slightest  concern  us. 

One  ought  not  to  consider  his  mental  training 
complete  until  he  can,  with  entire  equanimity,  meet 
all  incidents  which  affect  him  personally  and  can 
consider  them  carefully  with  entire  freedom  from 
any  discordant  thinking  or  feeling. 


xxn 

HABIT 

There  has  long  been  a  tendency  among  moralists 
to  decry  habit,  perhaps  because  their  attention  has 
been  directed  more  frequently  toward  bad  habits 
than  good  ones,  or  they  may  have  been  more  inter- 
ested in  destroying  bad  habits  than  in  creating  good 
ones.  The  popular  idea  of  the  preponderance  of 
evil  habits  has  also  come,  in  part  at  least,  from  the 
undue  magnitude  which  evil  has  been  allowed  to 
assume  in  the  human  mind,  and  from  the  consequent 
belief  that  habit  turns  more  largely  toward  evil  than 
toward  good.  This  may  be  a  relic  of  the  "  religious  " 
idea  formerly  so  carefully  cultivated  by  a  consider- 
able class  of  teachers  of  morality,  and  therefore 
widely  believed,  that  man  is  totally  depraved  and  as 
"prone  to  do  evil  as  the  sparks  to  fly  upward." 
Centuries  ago  Ovid  wrote :  — 

"  111  habits  gather  by  unseen  degrees, 
As  brooks  make  rivers,  rivers  run  to  seas." 

This  statement  has  the  disadvantage  of  being 
negative  in  character,  thereby  suggesting  those  dis- 

158 


HABIT  159 

cordant  thoughts  which  arise  from  doubts  about 
successfully  overcoming  an  increasing  evil;  but 
there  is  another  and  far  more  desirable  view  of  this 
subject  which  has  the  great  advantage  of  being  cor- 
rect as  well  as  encouraging. 

Habit  is  the  result  of  the  natural  tendency  of  the 
mind  to  persist  in  doing  those  things  which  it  has 
many  times  been  set  to  do.  A  new  action  is  often 
accomplished  slowly  and  with  difficulty,  but  repeti- 
tion results  in  greater  facility,  and  it  may  be  con- 
tinued until  at  last  it  is  performed  without  conscious 
effort  or  attention  and  without  the  exercise  of  any 
volition  beyond  the  choice  to  begin.  This  is  the 
origin  of  a  majority,  some  say  of  all  those  actions 
which  are  looked  upon  as  reflex  or  automatic  and 
which  seem  to  occur  independently  of  any  mental 
action  whatever;  and  in  this  way  any  action  re- 
peatedly performed  may  finally  become  reflex  or 
automatic.  This  being  the  case,  the  door  is  open 
whereby  a  man  can  control  not  only  his  conscious 
thinking,  but  by  the  control  and  creation  of  habit 
may  also  create  and  control  that  thinking  of  which 
he  is  not  conscious. 

The  action  of  the  piano  player  is  an  excellent 
illustration  of  the  way  habit  works  for  us.  So  is  the 
incident  of  that  musician  who  was  stricken  with 


l6o  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

epilepsy  in  the  midst  of  his  orchestral  performance, 
but  who  continued  to  play  accurately  to  the  end. 
He  had  established  the  habit  by  his  own  long-con- 
tinued efforts.  It  takes  the  musician  a  long  time  to 
set  up  this  habit,  and  he  considers  it  well  worth  the 
effort ;  but  the  end  sought  in  the  control  of  discordant 
thinking  is  vastly  more  valuable  than  the  musical 
accomplishment,  however  desirable  that  may  be. 

Habit  works  with  absolute  impartiality;  for  good 
with  the  same  facility  and  effectiveness  that  it  does 
for  evil;  for  right  thinking  just  as  powerfully  as  for 
wrong  thinking;  and  the  increasing  momentum  and 
power  of  a  good  action  repeated  is  just  as  great  as 
that  of  a  bad  one.  One  may  easily  control  the  initial 
idea  either  to  emphasize  and  repeat  it  or' to  avoid  it. 
If  a  person  persistently  does  that,  the  tendency, 
whatever  it  may  be,  whether  inherited  or  otherwise 
acquired,  and  however  firmly  intrenched,  can  be 
modified  or  destroyed.  By  constant  repetition  the 
habit  of  avoiding  discordant  thinking  may  be  estab- 
lished just  as  firmly  as  any  other,  and  with  no  more 
effort,  for  habit,  good  or  bad,  is  only  action  oft 
repeated. 

If  one  refuses  to  allow  discordant  thoughts  to  con- 
tinue, stopping  them  every  time  he  is  conscious  of 
them,  the  habit  will  finally  be  so  confirmed  that 


HABIT  l6l 

whenever  the  objectionable  thought  is  presented, 
the  mind  will  of  itself  automatically  refuse  to  enter- 
tain it;  and  this,  too,  without  any  conscious  atten- 
tion from  the  person,  just  as  the  musician  presses  the 
keys  of  his  instrument  without  the  least  recognition 
of  the  thinking  which  produces  the  motion.  By 
habit  the  mind  will  persist  in  not  doing  whatever  it 
has  been  trained  not  to  do  with  the  same  readiness 
and  ease  which  it  manifests  in  doing  the  things  it  has 
been  trained  to  do.  Thus,  this  habit  may  be  so  culti- 
vated that  when  any  suggestions  of  discordant  think- 
ing arise  they  will  "stop  themselves."  To  establish 
any  habit  the  action  of  the  mind  only  needs  to  be 
given  the  right  direction  by  continuous  repetition, 
but  it  is  all-important  that  the  obtruding  thought 
should  be  banished  every  time  and  on  the  instant 
that  it  appears.  Man  should  understand  this  fact, 
be  encouraged  by  it,  and  take  advantage  of.it. 

An  immense  proportion  of  our  good  actions  are 
habitual,  and  that  is  as  it  should  be.  Professor 
James  says:  "The  fact  is  that  our  virtues  are  habits 
as  much  as  our  vices."  We  should  establish  the 
habit  of  good,  useful,  and  virtuous  actions  as  soon  as 
possible  by  setting  up  correct  habits  of  thinking. 

When  Ovid's  couplet  is  reversed  it  is  as  true  as 
when  it  is  read  in  the  way  he  wrote  it;   and  in  its 


1 62  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

modified  form  it  has  the  advantages  of  being  just  as 
accurate  as  in  its  original  form  and  also  of  giving 
vastly  more  encouragement  to  those  who  are  striving 
to  establish  better  mental  conditions  for  themselves : 

"  Good  habits  gather  by  unseen  degrees, 
As  brooks  make  rivers,  rivers  run  to  seas." 


XXIII 

THE  RELATION   OF  THINKING  TO 
HEALTH 

The  relation  of  thinking  to  every  bodily  action 
from  the  smallest  to  the  greatest  is  that  of  cause  to 
effect,  therefore  the  same  is  true  of  the  relation  of 
thinking  to  health  and  disease.  Harmonious  think- 
ing is  the  cause;  health  is  the  effect.  Discordant 
thinking  is  the  cause;  disease  is  the  effect.  Each 
person  has  built  as  he  would;  each  person  may 
build  as  he  will. 

This  becomes  broadly  apparent  if  the  statement  of 
President  Hall  be  accepted,  that  there  is  no  change 
of  thought  without  a  change  of  muscle.  Still  more 
clearly  does  this  appear  in  Professor  James's  declara- 
tion that  mental  states  always  lead  to  changes  in 
breathing,  general  muscular  tension,  circulation, 
and  glandular  or  other  visceral  activity.  These 
point  directly  to  the  statement  by  Professor  Gates 
that  anger,  jealousy,  hate,  or  any  malevolent  think- 
ing causes  the  secretion  in  the  system  of  various 

163 


1 64  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

injurious  substances,  including  poisons.  The  cir- 
culation of  the  blood  and  all  other  bodily  functions 
are  interfered  with  by  passion  or  emotion.  Laughter 
and  tears  are  physical  conditions  involving  changes 
of  muscles  and  of  glandular  secretions,  and  their 
causes  are  purely  mental.  The  same  is  true  in  all 
bodily  conditions. 

But,  objects  one,  I  did  not  think  of  a  headache, 
yet  I  woke  with  it  in  the  morning.  Very  true. 
Neither  did  the  thief  think  of  stealing  when  he  began 
to  wish  for  his  neighbor's  property;  nor  did  the 
mother,  weeping  over  her  lost  son,  think  of  shedding 
tears ;  nor  did  the  man  in  a  convulsive  fit  of  laughter 
plan  to  laugh.  Had  there  been  no  thought  of  the 
ludicrous,  there  would  have  been  no  laughter.  Had 
there  been  no  thought  of  grief  in  the  mother's  mind, 
there  would  have  been  no  tears.  Had  there  been 
no  desire  for  what  was  another's,  there  would  have 
been  no  stealing;  and  had  there  been  no  discordant 
thought,  there  would  have  been  no  headache. 

Professor  Gates's  experiments  show  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  thinking  upon  the  health.  He  found  that 
anger  produced  a  brownish  substance  which  ap- 
peared in  the  breath.  He  continued  his  experiments 
until  he  had  obtained  enough  of  that  substance  so 
that  he  could  give  it  to  men  and  animals  as  medicine 


THE   RELATION   OF   THINKING    TO    HEALTH      1 65 

is  administered.  In  every  case  it  produced  nervous 
excitability  or  irritability.  In  his  experiments  with 
another  kind  of  thinking  he  obtained  another  sub- 
stance from  the  breath  which  he  injected  in  the  veins 
of  a  guinea-pig,  and  the  pig  died  in  a  very  few  minutes. 
After  saying  that  hate  is  accompanied  by  the  greatest 
expenditure  of  vital  energy,  he  enumerates  several 
of  its  chemical  products,  all  poisonous,  and  concludes 
by  saying:  " Enough  would  be  eliminated  in  one 
hour  of  intense  hate,  by  a  man  of  average  strength, 
to  cause  the  death  of  perhaps  fourscore  persons,  as 
these  ptomaines  are  the  deadliest  poisons  known  to 
science." 

He  experimented  with  two  young  ladies.  They 
were  first  tested  in  various  ways  to  ascertain  their 
general  condition.  One  was  then  required  to  make 
a  list  of  all  the  delightful,  pleasant,  enjoyable,  or 
fortunate  incidents  in  her  life.  The  other  made  a 
list  of  all  the  events  of  a  directly  opposite  kind  in  her 
life.  He  kept  each  thinking  upon  her  own  list  as 
continuously  as  possible  for  thirty  days,  and  then 
they  were  tested  in  the  same  manner  as  at  the  begin- 
ning. The  first  had  gained  most  remarkably,  while 
the  second  lost  in  nearly  the  same  proportion. 

All  bodily  actions  and  conditions,  whether  in- 
tended or  not,  are  consequences  of  thinking,  and 


1 66  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

since  disease  is  a  bodily  action  or  condition,  the  ru\e 
holds  good  for  all  diseases.  Thoughts  of  grief, 
regret,  anxiety,  or  fear  which  follow  bad  news  often 
find  their  physical  consequence  in  a  disturbance  of 
the  nerves  of  the  stomach ;  and,  in  exact  proportion 
to  the  intensity  of  these  thoughts,  they  bring  about 
such  a  disordered  condition  of  that  organ  as  to  im- 
pair or  even  suspend  digestion.  We  say,  "  It  struck 
to  the  stomach."  This  expression  is  figurative,  but 
accurate ;  and  nearly  every  one  has  had  a  similar 
experience.  If  we  examine  ourselves,  we  find  that 
"it"  was  a  thought  or  a  group  of  thoughts.  The 
disturbed  condition  of  the  stomach  caused  by  "it" 
varies  with  the  variation  of  the  other  attendant 
mental  and  physical  conditions.  The  disordered 
stomach  may  affect  the  head,  causing  dizziness  or 
headache,  or  it  may  disturb  the  optic  nerve  so  as  to 
cause  dimness  of  vision,  or  it  may  act  upon  other 
portions  of  the  body  in  discordant  ways,  causing 
debility,  weakness,  pain,  or  suffering  of  many  kinds 
and  of  longer  or  shorter  duration,  according  to  the 
intensity,  continuance,  or  frequency  of  the  repetition 
of  the  discordant  thinking. 

It  is  not  necessary,  as  has  been  asserted  by  many, 
that  one  should  think  of  a  special  disease  in  order 
to  produce  it.     On  the  contrary,  disease  is  seldom 


THE   RELATION   OF   THINKING   TO   HEALTH     167 

caused  by  direct  thought  of  the  particular  disorder 
which  afterward  appears,  although  it  may  be  so 
caused  and  sometimes  is;  but  discordant  thoughts 
of  some  kind  set  the  train  in  motion.  Sometimes 
the  train  is  a  long  one,  with  many  physical  and  men- 
tal actions  and  conditions  existing  between  the  initial 
thought  and  the  disease  in  which  the  series 
culminates. 

Although  the  incident  which  appears  to  be  the 
immediate  cause  of  the  disease  may  be  purely  physi- 
cal in  character,  yet  that  incident  must  itself  have 
had  its  cause  which,  if  sought,  will  at  last  be  found 
in  some  mental  action  or  condition.  Too  small  or 
improperly  shaped  shoes  may  be  worn  until  the  feet 
become  distorted,  diseased,  and  painful,  and  this 
will  change  the  whole  attitude  and  action  of  the 
person.  When  the  shoes  were  selected,  this  result 
was  not  thought  of,  least  of  all  was  it  intended.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  cause  of  this  suffering  was 
purely  physical,  yet  certain  ideas  regarding  the  size 
and  appearance  of  the  shoes  governed  their  selection, 
and,  causing  that,  caused  all  that  followed,  including 
the  suffering.  Thus,  the  origin  of  it  all  was  thinking, 
even  though  remote  from  its  consequences  to  the 
health.  Sometimes  diseases  of  maturity  and  old  age 
may  be  clearly  traced  to  some  thinking  of  childhood 


1 68  RIGHT  AND   WRONG   THINKING 

or  youth  which  had  long  disappeared  from  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  person. 

History  is  full  of  illustrations  of  diseases  directly 
caused  by  mental  conditions,  many  of  them  noted 
in  the  records  of  the  medical  profession.  Dr.  John 
Hunter,  the  great  English  surgeon,  suffered  from 
disease  of  the  heart  which  he  himself  ascribed  to  his 
fear  of  having  contracted  hydrophobia  when  dis- 
secting the  body  of  a  patient ;  and  it  is  said  that  his 
own  death  was  the  result  of  a  fit  of  anger. 

Although  it  is  possible  that  in  some  instances  there 
may  be  such  a  combination  of  known  circumstances 
with  known  thinking  as  to  show  beyond  question 
that  a  particular  disease  was  the  result  of  some 
special  kind  of  thinking,  yet  it  does  not  necessarily 
follow  that  this  disease  is  always  the  result  of  this 
particular  thinking,  nor  that  this  thinking  always 
produces  this  particular  disease.  We  do  not  know 
anything  about  the  unnoticed  or  subconscious  think- 
ing and  not  very  much  about  that  which  is  undi- 
rected ;  that  is,  we  do  not  know  anything  of  the  spe- 
cific character  of  some  of  the  causes,  and  of  others 
very  little,  consequently  our  knowledge  is  too  in- 
sufficient to  enable  us  to  draw  special  conclusions 
which  shall  necessarily  be  correct. 

It  may  be  beyond  question  that  a  certain  headache 


THE   RELATION   OF   THINKING   TO   HEALTH     1 69 

was  caused  by  anger,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  fol- 
low that  every  headache  has  anger  for  its  cause,  nor 
even  that  anger  causes  headache  in  a  majority  of 
cases.  There  are  more  than  a  score  of  other  mental 
conditions  which  might  result  in  headache,  and  there 
is  a  large  number  of  physical  conditions  besides 
headache  which  may  be  caused  by  anger.  Hence,  it 
is  not  possible  to  demonstrate  that  any  given  disease 
is  always  produced  by  some  one  particular  kind  of 
thinking. 

This  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  one  man  turns 
pale  from  anger  while  another  flushes.  In  one  of 
these  cases  the  blood  is  sent  away  from  the  surface 
by  the  same  mental  action  which  in  the  other  sends 
it  to  the  surface.  That  the  blood  may  take  these 
opposite  directions  in  two  different  persons  under 
the  impulse  of  the  same  kind  of  thinking  indicates 
clearly  the  erroneousness  of  singling  out  any  one  par- 
ticular set  of  discordant  thoughts  as  the  cause  of  any 
special  infirmity.  The  attempt  to  banish  certain 
thoughts  for  the  purpose  of  securing  immunity  from 
a  particular  disease  might  be  successful  in  eradicating 
the  disease  in  one  person,  but  it  might  not  have  that 
effect  in  another.  The  whole  brood  of  discordant 
thoughts  should  be  banished,  and  the  eradication  of 
any  erroneous  thought  will  be  followed  by  good 


I70  RIGHT  AND   WRONG   THINKING 

results  even  if  it  does  not  terminate  the  particular 
disease  in  question. 

To  stop  wrong  or  discordant  thinking  for  the  pur- 
pose of  securing  good  health  is  not  the  highest  motive. 
The  moral  considerations  are  the  primal  and  most 
important  reasons  for  doing  it,  but  to  do  it  for  reasons 
of  health  is  better  than  to  continue  the  wrong  think- 
ing, and  physical  health  is  greatly  to  be  desired.  The 
destruction  of  all  wrong  thoughts  would  eradicate  all 
disease  as  well  as  all  erroneous  actions,  and  would 
purify  the  whole  man. 

The  principles  under  consideration  clearly  ex- 
plain the  cause  of  relapse,  or  the  recurrence  of  a 
disease  once  cured.  If  the  healing  is  followed  by 
the  requisite  change  in  the  mental  habits  of  the  per- 
son cured,  that  is,  by  the  avoidance  and  eradication 
of  the  thinking  which  caused  the  disease,  then  it  will 
not  return.  If  there  is  no  change  in  these  habits,  the 
thinking  which  produced  the  disease  in  the  first  place 
will  produce  it  again.  This  explains  why  Jesus  told 
persons  whom  he  had  healed  to  go  and  sin  no  more.1 
It  also  explains  why  he  toid  his  disciples  both  to  heal 

1  The  Greek  word  in  this  place  translated  "  sin  "  might  have 
been  translated  "  err  "  with  equal  faithfulness  to  its  meaning.  This 
brings  the  subject  into  the  broader  and  more  general  domain  of 
error  and  also  lightens  the  condemnation  for  those  whom  he 
addressed. 


THE   RELATION   OF   THINKING   TO   HEALTH      171 

and  to  preach.  Instruction  (preaching)  should 
accompany  every  case  of  healing  so  that  the  cause 
may  be  avoided  in  the  future  and  then,  of  course, 
there  will  be  no  recurrence  of  the  disease. 

But  some  one  asks  about  those  diseases  which  were 
caused  by  physical  excess;  are  they  also  results  of 
thinking?  The  answer  is  that  they  are,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  because  every  excess  has  for 
its  cause,  back  of  all  else,  some  mental  action  or  con- 
dition. This  might  have  been  changed  in  its  be- 
ginning or  in  its  course,  and  then  the  consequences 
would  have  been  different.  Delirium  tremens  foL 
lows  excessive  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants.  It  may 
be  claimed  that  drinking  was  the  cause,  and  so  it 
was ;  but  the  drinking  was  itself  the  result  of  think- 
ing and  would  not  have  occurred  had  the  man 
ceased  thinking  those  thoughts  which  led  to  it. 

The  condition  is  not  changed  even  if  drunkenness 
is  the  consequence  of  heredity,  or  inherited  tenden- 
cies. In  that  case  the  series  of  thoughts  and  cir- 
cumstances is  merely  lengthened  by  removing  the 
causative  thinking  farther  away  from  the  resultant 
disease.  Those  inherited  tendencies  were  the  re- 
sults of  ancestral  thoughts  and  consequent  actions. 
If  the  ancestor  had  avoided  those  thoughts  he  would 
not  have  bequeathed  "the  legacy  of  damnation"  to 


172  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

his  children.  Yet,  even  when  such  an  inherited 
tendency  exists,  because  thinking  caused  it  rigid 
control  of  one's  own  thinking  will  destroy  it.  Such 
conditions  may  require  greater  effort  than  in  most 
other  cases,  but  sufficient  effort  is  possible,  and  if  it 
is  continued  steadily  and  firmly,  the  final  triumph  is 
certain. 

The  incipient  causes  of  those  physical  conditions 
which  are  occasioned  by  accidents  will  always  be 
found  in  thinking,  or  in  lack  of  thinking,  which  is  in 
the  same  domain.  A  man  falls  and  breaks  an  arm 
because  he  is  thinking  of  something  else  than  his 
footsteps.  The  defective  building  falls  and  crushes 
the  occupants  because  the  builder  was  thinking  of 
the  greater  gain  he  might  make  by  less  careful  con- 
struction or  by  the  use  of  defective  or  cheaper  mate- 
rials. The  railroad  wreck  was  the  result  of  a  mis- 
placed switch,  and  this  in  turn  was  caused  by  lack 
of  the  attention  of  the  switchman  who  thought  the 
train  had  passed,  or  that  it  was  not  due.  And  so  on 
through  the  entire  chapter.  When  followed  to  their 
ultimates,  however  much  accidents  may  at  first 
appear  to  result  from  wholly  physical  causes,  yet 
mind  and  its  action  will  at  last  be  found  to  have  been 
their  occasion  in  every  instance.  Even  in  a  wider 
and  deeper  way  than  all  this,  the  very  possibility  of 


THE    RELATION    OF    THINKING    TO    HEALTH      1 73 

breaking  the  bone  or  crushing  the  limb  may  be  the 
result  of  the  habitual  thought  that  the  race  has  enter- 
tained from  time  immemorial. 

The  catalogue  of  the  diseases  of  immorality  is  a 
very  long  one,  and  every  day  careful  observers  in  the 
medical  profession  are  adding  other  names  not  here- 
tofore suspected  of  belonging  in  that  list.  Thinking 
is  always  the  beginning  of  immorality,  and  therefore 
thinking  is  the  ultimate  cause  of  all  those  diseases 
occasioned  by  it.  Immorality  merely  intervenes 
between  the  thinking  and  the  disease.  Immoral 
thoughts  cannot  be  indulged  in  without  producing 
their  mental  and  physical  consequences.  They  not 
only  have  their  evil  results  in  the  disturbed  or 
diseased  physical  system,  but  they  write  their  record 
where  it  may  be  read  by  all  men. 

Those  who  recognize  the  causative  character  of 
thinking  sometimes  say  that  all  sickness  is  the  result 
of  sin.  While  it  is  true  that  all  sickness  is  the  result 
of  error,  it  is  also  true  that  not  all  error  is  sin.  Error 
arises  out  of  not  knowing,  and  that  is  ignorance; 
but  though  ignorance  may  be  reckoned  as  erroneous, 
it  could  hardly  be  classed  as  sinful.  It  is  therefore 
cruel,  and  very  often  unjust,  to  charge  those  who  are 
suffering  from  physical  infirmity  with  being  sinners. 
This  is  condemnation,  and  all  condemnation  is  to  be 


174  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

avoided  because  it  is  discordant;  but,  more  than 
that,  in  this  place  the  condemnation  may  be  mis- 
placed and  wholly  undeserved.  If  the  good  man 
who  is  sick  only  knew  that  wrong  thinking  is  as  bad 
as  wrong  actions,  he  would  stop  his  discordant  think- 
ing as  effectually  as  he  checked  his  erroneous  actions. 
He  may  be  ill  because  of  ignorance  and  error,  but  not 
necessarily  because  of  sin.  Self-control,  through 
control  of  the  thinking,  may  be  the  healing  of  every 
conscientious  person  who  has  hitherto  controlled  his 
actions,  but  who  has  only  repressed  his  thinking. 

Herein  may  be  seen  the  reason  why  so  many  per- 
sons are  afflicted  with  disease  even  though  their 
" daily  walk  and  conduct"  is  above  reproach.  The 
good  man  who  is  always  ailing  may  persistently  keep 
his  discordant  thoughts  in  mind  but  conceal  them. 
He  knows  he  ought  not  to  injure  his  neighbor,  yet, 
because  of  his  ideas  about  what  is  right,  he  may 
think  it  is  his  duty  to  condemn  and  despise  him  in 
his  heart.  By  sheer  force  of  will  such  men  control 
the  tongue,  the  hand,  and  all  outward  actions,  but 
leave  the  cause  which  would  otherwise  produce  those 
actions  to  prey  unchecked  and  uncontrolled  upon 
themselves. 

Discordant  thoughts  when  repressed,  like  the  fire 
that  is  smothered  but  not  extinguished,  rankle  within 


THE   RELATION   OF   THINKING    TO   HEALTH      1 75 

all  the  more  fiercely  for  their  restraint,  straining  and 
torturing  the  nerves,  preventing  the  normal  and 
rightful  glandular  and  visceral  activity,  ruining  the 
muscles,  sapping  the  strength  of  the  bones,  generat- 
ing those  harmful  secretions  which  create  every 
variety  of  disease  and  infirmity,  burning  the  man 
with  fevers,  freezing  him  with  chills,  starving  him 
with  dyspepsia,  and  poisoning  him  with  their 
injurious  chemical  products. 

Repressed  thoughts  are  all  the  time  striving  for 
expression  or  outlet  in  some  form  of  physical  activity ; 
and,  therefore,  throughout  their  whole  duration, 
there  exists  the  necessity  for  the  counter-effort  in 
greater  degree  in  order  to  keep  the  body  in  check. 
The  energy  necessary  to  maintain  muscular  control 
in  the  repression  of  discordant  mental  activity  re- 
quires strenuous  and  wearying  exercise  of  the  will 
which  increases  the  burden  and  is  decidedly  injuri- 
ous to  body,  mind,  and  morals.  None  of  this  energy 
would  have  been  required  had  the  thoughts  been 
dropped  out  of  the  mind  as  soon  as  they  appeared. 
Therefore,  though  a  good  man  may  not  show  it  to 
the  world,  yet  all  the  time  he  may  be  ruining  his 
health  and  happiness  with  his  discordant  thinking. 

Probably,  in  addition  to  all  the  rest,  the  man  who 
thus  represses  his  thinking  has,  in  most  respects, 


176  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

a  high  moral  standard  and  a  sensitive  conscience 
which  is  outraged  by  the  presence  of  such  thoughts. 
This  creates  the  keen  mental  discord  of  regret,  self- 
condemnation,  grief,  and  remorse  to  furnish  ad- 
ditional, and  equally  discordant,  and  therefore 
equally  injurious,  mental  elements  which  do  their 
work  as  effectively  as  any  others.  Such  thoughts 
may  remain  dormant  and  unnoticed  in  the  mind  for 
years,  finally  to  flash  out  into  expression  at  some 
unfortunate  moment  very  much  to  his  own  surprise 
as  well  as  to  the  surprise  of  his  friends.  Thus, 
difficulty  is  piled  on  top  of  difficulty  until  it  is  no 
wonder  that  such  a  man,  though  outwardly  good, 
fails  to  possess  healthful  vigor  and  elasticity.  The 
wonder  is  that  he  lives  out  half  his  days,  but  what 
might  he  not  be  if  he  would  only  drop  discordant 
thinking ! 


XXIV 
RECAPITULATION   OF   PRINCIPLES 

In  all  human  activities  three  occurrences  follow 
one  another  in  regular  order:  (i)  the  external  in- 
cident; (2)  the  thinking  which  follows  the  incident; 
and  (3)  the  bodily  action  which  is  caused  by  the 
thinking,  is  governed  by  it,  and  consequently  takes 
its  character  from  it.1 

Then,  since  the  bodily  action  is  governed  by  the 
thinking,  it  is  not  governed  by  the  circumstance 
which  provoked  that  thinking;  and  since  the  char- 
acter of  all  bodily  action  is  established  and  controlled 
by  the  thinking  exclusively,  therefore  it  must  be  the 
same  with  those  conditions  known  as  health  and 
disease.  This  conclusion  being  correct,  then  it 
follows  that  those  bodily  conditions  which  are  looked 
upon  as  purely  physical  are  always  given  their 
character  by  the  thinking. 

Take  for  illustration  a  blow  on  the  finger.     There 

1  The  only  exception  to  this  order  is  in  those  cases  where  the 
action  originates  in  the  mind  itself  without  any  stimulus  from  an 
external  occurrence. 

177 


178  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

are  two  avenues  by  which  the  blow  comes  into  the 
mental  consciousness.  One  is  along  the  nerve  of 
transmission  through  the  hand,  up  the  arm  and  neck 
into  the  brain.  The  other  is  by  the  more  direct 
way  of  the  light  vibrations  from  the  finger  to  the 
optic  nerve  in  the  eye  and  thence  along  that  nerve 
to  the  brain.  This  last  route  is  shorter  than  the 
other,  and  the  larger  part  of  the  distance  is  by  a 
method  vastly  more  rapid  than  the  nerves  afford. 
Hence,  the  "message"  arrives  sooner  by  this  route 
than  by  the  first,  so  that  one  sees  the  blow  before 
he  feels  it. 

Between  the  perception  of  the  blow  by  way  of 
the  line  of  sight  and  the  perception  by  way  of  the 
nerve,  there  is  an  appreciable  instant  of  time, 
ample  in  which  to  think,  because  thinking  is  prac- 
tically instantaneous.  According  to  the  principles 
here  set  forth,  this  thinking  decides  the  character 
of  the  action  which  shall  follow  the  blow,  and  in 
point  of  fact  such  is  the  case.  This  has  been  ex- 
perienced by  all  those  who  have  made  careful  ob- 
servations of  their  mental  and  physical  actions  under 
such  circumstances.  If  the  control  of  the  mind  is 
rightly  and  completely  maintained,  so  that  there  is 
no  discordant  thinking  preceding  and  during  this 
instant,  there  will  not  be  any  pain.     This  has  been 


RECAPITULATION  OF  PRINCIPLES  1 79 

done  repeatedly  and  may  be  done  by  any  one  who 
will  control  his  thinking. 

Similar  experiences  have  occurred  not  only  in 
connection  with  blows,  but  also  with  burns  and  other 
accidents.  There  have  been  numerous  cases  where 
boiling  water  has  been  poured  over  the  hand  or 
other  part  of  the  body  without  pain  or  other  ill 
effects.  Success  in  this  has  been  so  complete  in 
many  instances  that  not  only  was  there  no  pain, 
but  the  blister  and  other  usual  physical  results  did 
not  follow.  This  can  always  be  accomplished 
whenever  an  interval  of  time  exists  between  the 
two  announcements  of  the  incident,  provided  the 
person  is  on  the  alert  and  has  trained  himself  in 
the  control  of  his  thinking. 

These  experiences  are  of  the  simplest  character, 
and,  because  they  are  simple,  the  desirable  results 
are  more  easily  accomplished,  but  they  demonstrate 
the  accuracy  of  the  general  proposition  because  the 
simple  conditions  on  which  they  rest  are  the  same 
as  those  on  which  rest  all  bodily  actions  however 
complicated.  From  facility  in  these  simpler  things 
it  is  possible,  as  in  any  sphere  of  activity,  to  advance 
to  equally  successful  management  of  the  more 
complicated  and  difficult  affairs. 

The  fact  that  harmonious   thinking  during  the 


180  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

interval  controls  and  gives  character  to  the  bodily 
actions  is  a  physical  and  practical  demonstration 
of  the  principle,  because  if  the  thinking  has  been,  as 
usual,  discordant,  the  usual  pain  will  follow. 

The  necessity  for  complete  exclusion  of  every 
variety  of  discordant  thinking  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  not  always  enough  to  avoid  the  discordant 
thinking  which  is  directly  connected  with  the  par- 
ticular incident  in  hand.  All  discordant  thinking 
whatever  must  be  excluded  at  the  time  in  order  to 
gain  complete  success.  One  who  was  thoroughly 
trained  in  this  practice  was  surprised  at  failure  and 
unable  to  explain  it  until  he  remembered  that  dis- 
cordant thinking,  relating  to  an  entirely  different 
subject,  had  been  in  his  mind  at  the  time. 

Herein  lies  the  possibility  of  perfect  health;  it 
needs  only  that  men  shall  follow  the  rule.  With 
the  entire  disappearance  of  those  thoughts  which 
produce  disease,  disease  itself  must  disappear,  and 
perfect  health  must  follow. 

This  proposition  is  contrary  to  what  has  been 
the  trend  of  thought  for  centuries,  and  therefore 
many  abandon  the  subject  without  giving  it  due 
consideration.  Then  again,  to  others  the  conditions 
seem  so  simple  that  they  do  not  see  how  it  is  possible 
that    such    important    results    should    follow    such 


RECAPITULATION   OF   PRINCIPLES  l8l 

simple  causes;  besides,  perseverance  is  necessary 
to  success,  and  few  care  to  persevere.  Exclusion 
of  all  discord  is  necessary,  yet  many  think  little 
things  are  not  worthy  the  requisite  attention  and 
effort;  and,  for  lack  of  that  training  which  they 
might  have  had  through  the  management  of  the 
little  things,  when  they  are  confronted  with  the 
larger  difficulties,  they  meet  discouragement,  if  not 
failure.  However,  it  still  remains  true  that  to  at- 
tain to  perfect  health  it  is  only  necessary  to  stop 
thinking  all  discordant  thoughts. 

The  impetuous  restlessness  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  English  race  and  the  intensity  of 
their  activity  are  constantly  spurring  them  on  to 
"do  something."  That  is  one  reason  why  they 
swallow  such  enormous  quantities  of  drugs,  even 
compelling  their  physicians  to  prescribe  medicines 
when  the  physicians  themselves  are  convinced  that 
their  patients  would  be  better  off  without  them. 
But  here  is  a  method  of  the  opposite  character.  It 
does  not  require  the  doing  of  something,  but  the 
ceasing  to  do  something  —  not  activity,  but  rest. 
It  is  not  to  do,  but  to  stop  doing. 

Lao-tsze  told  his  countrymen  a  half-truth  which 
points  to  a  whole  truth,  even  if  couched  in  the  nega- 
tive form,  when  he  said:    "By  non-action  there  is 


1 82  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

nothing  which  may  not  be  done."  When  righi 
thinking  is  not  interfered  with  by  wrong  thinking, 
the  right  acting  will  take  care  of  itself.  If  a  man 
ceases  to  think  evil,  he  will  cease  to  do  evil,  and 
right  will  prevail,  because  there  is  then  not  anything 
else  for  him  to  do.  He  who  does  not  think  about 
stealing  cannot  steal.  There  is  wisdom  in  the 
advice  which  that  old  Hebrew  prophet  gave  the 
Israelites  in  their  emergency:  "Stand  still  and  see 
[observe]  the  salvation  of  the  Lord."  They  were 
not  to  do  the  work  themselves,  but  only  to  stand 
and  see  it  done.  God's  working  is  always  toward 
the  right.  The  persistent  tendency  of  activity 
throughout  all  things  in  nature  is  toward  purifica- 
tion. Stagnant  water  becomes  impure;  flowing 
water  becomes  pure  unless  impurities  are  constantly 
added.  Even  the  Chicago  drainage  canal,  bearing 
all  the  filth  of  that  great  city,  purifies  itself  in  a  few 
miles  so  that  at  last  even  the  chemist  cannot  detect 
any  impurities. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  human  body.  No  sooner 
does  an  atom  in  the  body  become  useless  or  injurious 
than,  without  any  conscious  attention  on  the  part 
of  the  person,  something  goes  to  work  to  remove 
that  atom  from  the  system.  See,  in  Gates's  experi- 
ment,  how  soon  the  injurious  substance  evolved  in 


RECAPITULATION   OF    PRINCIPLES  1 83 

the  body  as  a  consequence  of  anger  was  expelled 
through  the  breath.  This  is  only  a  single  instance 
among  a  vast  multitude.  Physiologists  tell  us  that 
some  injurious  substances  appear  in  the  perspiration 
in  less  than  a  minute  after  they  are  swallowed.  So 
strong  is  this  tendency  in  the  human  body  that  when 
the  offending  object  is  of  such  a  character  that  it 
cannot  be  removed,  it  often  occurs,  as  in  the  case  of 
a  bullet,  that  a  new  and  entirely  distinct  process  is 
set  up,  and  the  object  is  enclosed  by  an  impervious 
sheath  which  separates  it  from  the  surrounding 
tissues  and  prevents  it  from  doing  any  harm  to  the 
system. 

Even  the  old  biblical  writers  recognized  that  the 
iniquities  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon  the  children 
only  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation.1  So 
great  is  the  natural  tendency  of  all  organized  life 
toward  purity !  This  universal  tendency  of  all 
nature  adds  probability  to  the  recognized  possibility 
of  final  absolute  purity,  and  holds  out  to  man  an- 
other strong  encouragement  to  aid  its  accomplish- 
ment by  acting  in  accord  with  these  basic  mental 
principles.  Both  mental  and  material  creation  con- 
spires to  the  same  end.  If,  then,  men  would  stop 
discordant  thinking  and  thereby  cease  generating 

1  Exodus  xx.  5. 


184  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

impurities  within  themselves,  how  quickly  the 
stream  would  run  clear! 

Why  will  not  men  aid  this  tendency  by  ceasing 
to  plant  within  themselves  the  seeds  of  death  and 
disease,  and,  instead,  let  their  own  harmonious 
thinking  pour  in  great  fresh  streams  of  purity, 
health,  and  life?  Even  if  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 
do  continue  for  three  or  four  generations,  they 
must  sooner  or  later  disappear  as  the  filth  disap- 
pears from  the  running  water,  unless  other  impuri- 
ties are  continuously  mingled  with  the  stream  of 
pure  life  which  God  gives  to  every  one.  Suffering 
is  not  the  concomitant  of  life.  There  is  no  unavoid- 
able necessity  for  it.  Men  are  not  always  to  suffer. 
They  can,  and  they  ultimately  will,  put  away  dis- 
cordant thinking,  which  is  the  primal  cause  of  all 
suffering. 

A  vision  of  the  possibilities  lying  inherent  in 
these  principles  makes  the  old  story  of  the  length 
of  life  before  the  deluge  seem  not  altogether  impos- 
sible. What  might  not  come  to  man  if  he  would 
let  Nature  have  her  own  way  and  would  cease  pour- 
ing poison  into  himself  in  the  form  of  discordant 
thinking?  More  than  that,  may  there  not  be  some 
additional  method  whereby  man  may,  by  compliance 
with  other  principles,  entirely  obviate  the  necessity 


RECAPITULATION   OF   PRINCIPLES  1 85 

of  death  and  thus  bring  about  a  realization  of  the 
prophecy  of  Paul  who  says  that  the  last  enemy  to 
be  destroyed  is  death,  thus  indicating  that  death 
shall  at  last  cease?  Evidently  God  did  not  mean 
that  men  should  be  sick.  Then  He  did  not  mean 
that  they  should  die.  Paul  and  the  old  prophet 
were  right.1  "  Death  shall  be  swallowed  up  in 
victory." 

1  1  Corinthians  xv.  54;   Isaiah  xxv.  8. 


XXV 
THE  WORRY  HABIT 

He  who  would  stop  discordant  thinking  must 
banish  from  his  mind  all  anxiety  for  the  future  and 
"let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead,"  for  anxiety  about 
the  future  is  only  another  name  for  worry,  and  re- 
gret for  things  done  in  the  past  is  its  twin  sister; 
both  are  distinctly  antagonistic  to  all  harmonious 
thinking. 

In  the  literal  meaning  of  the  word  there  is  a  strong 
suggestion  of  the  character  and  attendant  conditions 
of  the  mental  state  which  it  designates.  One  of 
its  old  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors,  perhaps  a  grand- 
parent, was  used  to  indicate  harm,  while  another 
was  the  name  for  a  wolf,  and  in  Iceland  it  was  the 
name  for  an  accused  person.  In  our  own  times 
the  word  in  its  literalness  means  to  choke,  to  suffo- 
cate, to  bite  at  or  tear  with  the  teeth  as  dogs  do  when 
fighting,  or  when  "worrying"  rats  or  other  small 
animals. 

Metaphorically  the  word  indicates  a  mental  state 
1 86 


THE   WORRY  HABIT  187 

fully  the  equivalent  of  the  physical  conditions  in- 
cluded in  its  more  literal  meaning.  In  its  milder 
phases  it  is  disturbing,  harassing,  and  harmful; 
while  with  its  intenser  forms  it  does  indeed  seize 
its  victim  by  the  throat,  as  a  dog  or  a  wolf  might, 
and  choke,  and  suffocate,  and  tear  with  its  teeth. 
If  we  were  to  call  worry  into  our  consciousness  as  a 
person,  its  aspect  would  be  so  terrible  that  men 
would  flee  from  it  in  horror. 

The  woman  who  said  she  "spent  half  her  time 
doing  things  and  the  other  half  worrying  because 
she  had  done  them,"  belongs  to  a  very  numerous 
and  a  very  uncomfortable  family.  To  worry  over, 
or  regret,  what  is  past  is  like  rethreshing  old  straw. 
Time  so  spent  is  worse  than  wasted,  for  it  does  not 
change  anything,  it  occupies  valuable  time,  and  no 
form  of  useful  activity  drains  the  life  energies  as 
this  mental  torture  does.  It  robs  one  of  sleep,  sours 
the  disposition,  warps  the  judgment,  and  makes  the 
mind  weak  and  vacillating. 

This  is  true  of  every  form  of  anxiety  or  worry. 
It  is  a  waste  of  strength,  complete  destruction  of 
peace  of  mind,  and  one  of  the  most  disturbing  ele- 
ments which  can  invade  a  household.  One  individ- 
ual with  the  worry  habit  can  poison  the  atmosphere 
for  all  with  whom  he  is  associated,  for  mental  dis- 


1 88  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

cord  is  easily  communicated,  and  others  are  made 
more  or  less  miserable  either  by  discordant  sympathy 
or  by  condemnation. 

Thus  the  seed  is  multiplied,  for  to  condemn  an- 
other or  to  give  discordant  sympathy  by  being 
" sorry  for  him"  is  to  fall  into  the  same  kind  of  an 
error  that  he  himself  has  committed.  This  con- 
tagious thinking  should  stop  in  its  very  beginning. 
That  another  is  mentally  disturbed  is  no  excuse  for 
one's  own  discordant  thinking,  and  to  yield  to  such 
an  influence  injures  all  concerned.  As  the  weaver's 
shuttle  passes  from  side  to  side  of  the  loom,  so 
thoughts  pass  from  one  to  another,  entangling  many 
in  their  meshes  and  weaving  the  web  of  life  in  bright- 
ness or  in  gloom  according  as  the  thoughts  are. 

Anxiety  and  worry  about  the  future  have  their 
beginning  in  uncertainty  and  doubt,  and  these  soon 
develop  into  expectancy  of  evil  with  manifold  visions 
of  things'  that  never  happen.  Here  is  the  place 
where  effort  for  the  destruction  of  worry  should 
begin.  For  illustration :  A  friend  is  on  a  journey. 
There  steals  into  the  mind  a  thought  of  uncertainty 
whether  he  will  reach  his  destination  and  return  in 
safety.  Right  here  in  this  doubt  is  the  parting  of 
the  ways.  This  first  discordant  thought,  no  matter 
how  small,  should  be  instantly  dropped  out  of  the 


THE   WORRY   HABIT  1 89 

mind  as  unreservedly  as  a  stone  may  be  dropped  out 
of  the  hand.  It  can  be  done  more  easily  right 
here  at  the  outset  than  at  any  other  point,  and 
that  will  end  all  the  trouble.  If,  instead  of  doing 
this,  the  doubt  is  allowed  to  continue  and  to  ex- 
pand, the  discordant  thoughts  will  increase  to  the 
same  extent,  and  the  discomfort  will  be  exactly 
proportional. 

Perhaps  it  occurs  to  the  mind  that  accidents 
sometimes  happen  on  the  road.  This  thought  in- 
creases the  mental  disturbance  until  finally  the 
picture  presents  itself  of  some  frightful  affair  once 
read  about,  and  this  is  followed  by  a  condition  of 
worry  which  destroys  all  mental  serenity  and  makes 
life  miserable.  It  is  useless  to  say  to  the  worrier 
that  his  visions  are  entirely  unreal.  Probably  he  is 
aware  of  that  fact,  and  yet  he  makes  them  as  real 
to  himself  as  any  event  that  is  passing,  and  his 
suffering  is  as  actual  and  as  harmful  as  any  suffering. 

This  vice,  for  it  is  a  vice,  is  so  insidious  in  its 
approach,  so  positive  in  its  assertions  when  it  has 
once  made  a  lodgement  in  the  mind,  and  so  persistent 
in  its  hold  on  its  victim,  that  persuasion  or  entreaty 
from  another  is  seldom  of  any  avail.  It  is  not 
enough  to  say  to  the  person  obsessed  that  not  one 
traveller  in  millions  is  ever  injured,  nor  is  it  enough 


I90  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

to  say  that  his  fears  have  no  foundation  save  in  his 
own  imagination,  and  that  he  has  brought  all  his 
suffering  on  himself.  Such  declarations  to  the  con- 
firmed mental  inebriate  rouse  indignation  which 
seriously  increases  the  discord,  and  he  justifies  him- 
self by  asserting  that  he  cannot  help  worrying. 

He  can  help  it  if  he  will.  By  his  own  act,  with 
which  another  cannot  interfere,  he  can  avoid  all  the 
misery  which  worrying  would  bring  into  his  whole 
life,  as  well  as  the  misery  which  he  may  inflict  on 
the  lives  of  others.  There  is  no  occasion  for  it  out- 
side the  victim's  own  mind.  His  own  thinking  and 
that  alone  creates  the  disturbance,  it  has  no  exist- 
ence outside  of  his  own  thinking,  and  a  change  of 
his  thinking  can  destroy  it. 

Not  all  at  once  can  he  do  this,  perhaps,  but  he 
can  do  it  by  persistent  endeavor.  Back  at  the  part- 
ing of  the  ways,  when  the  thought  of  uncertainty 
first  entered  his  mind,  he  might  have  given  his 
thinking  a  healthy  and  harmonious  direction  by 
stopping  the  discordant  thoughts  which  had  been 
suggested  by  uncertainty  and  doubt. 

He  may  not  have  noticed  the  little  thought  which 
began  the  series,  or  if  he  did,  he  probably  considered 
it  too  trivial  to  be  worthy  of  any  attention,  still 
less  of  any  effort ;  yet  it  was  just  the  kind  of  thinking 


THE   WORRY  HABIT  191 

which  ought  always  to  be  terminated  on  the  instant. 
To  do  that  is  all  that  is  needed ;  and  that  done,  the 
terrors  which  a  fertile  imagination  might  conjure 
up  will  never  present  themselves.  It  matters  not 
whether  it  is  worry  about  future  possibilities  or 
anxiety  over  things  which  have  passed;  at  its  very 
beginning  is  the  place  to  assert  one's  right  to  be 
"kept  in  perfect  peace." 

Having  decided  that  he  cannot  stop  worrying, 
the  victim  makes  no  further  effort,  and  the  habit 
becomes  more  firmly  established  with  each  surrender 
to  its  wiles  and  its  tortures  until  he  becomes  as  com- 
pletely subject  to  its  control  as  any  victim  is  to  either 
the  morphine  or  the  drink  habit.  The  sense  of 
self-pity  because  his  "sympathetic  nature"  makes 
his  sufferings  greater  than  those  of  others  increases 
with  the  habit,  and  the  mental  discord  goes  on 
generating  its  poison  in  its  victim  beyond  the  ability 
of  his  system  to  expel  it,  developing  finally  into  some 
sluggish  disease.  When  death  follows  no  one  calls 
it  suicide,  but  it  surely  belongs  to  that  class. 

Worry  has  killed  more  people  than  all  the  hard 
work  that  was  ever  done.  Booker  Washington  very 
correctly  and  soberly  set  forth  its  results  in  a  single 
sentence:  "I  think  I  am  learning  more  and  more 
each  year  that  all  worry  consumes,  and  to  no  purpose, 


192  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

just  so  much  physical  and  mental  strength  thai 
otherwise  might  be  given  to  effective  work." ' 
Hard  work  with  a  peaceful,  harmonious  mind  wil\ 
never  kill  any  one;  and  when  it  is  accompanied  by 
serenity,  hope,  and  joy,  it  builds  up  the  system  and 
prolongs  existence  instead  of  shortening  it;  but 
worry  kills,  and  not  to  stop  it  is  slow  but  certain 
suicide  as  well  as  the  destruction  of  much  of  the 
joy  in  the  lives  of  one's  best  and  closest  friends. 
The  victims  all  know  the  discomfort  of  it,  yet  in 
many  cases  their  failure  to  stop  the  worrying  comes 
from  disinclination  to  make  the  necessary  effort. 

Whatever  the  incident  or  condition  which  sets 
the  worry  thought  into  activity,  the  two  are  as  dis- 
tinct as  one  pebble  from  another.  The  incident  is 
wholly  external  to  the  person.  The  thinking  and 
the  thought  are  entirely  within  the  person.  The 
thinker  may  have  no  power  over  the  incident,  but  he 
need  not  concern  himself  about  that;  if  he  will 
assert  himself,  he  may  have  complete  power  over  his 
own  thinking,  to  stop  it  or  to  allow  it  to  go  on. 
The  sooner  and  the  more  fully  one  recognizes  that 
it  is  not  the  incident,  but  one's  own  thinking,  which 
causes  the  trouble  the  better  for  him,  because  it 
will  make  his  work  of  reform  far  less  difficult.     His 

1  Up  from  Slavery,  p.  181. 


THE   WORRY   HABIT  1 93 

dominion  over  his  own  thinking  may  be  absolute, 
therefore  he  may  set  in  motion  a  train  of  thoughts 
entirely  distinct  from  those  first  suggested  by  the 
incident,  and  he  may  drive  away  the  whole  discord- 
ant troop  as  completely  as  he  would  burglars  from 
his  house  or  dogs  from  his  sheepfold. 

If  one  would  make  a  careful  and  comprehensive 
examination  of  the  circumstances  which  provoke 
discordant  thinking,  strictly  confining  himself  to 
this  examination  and  excluding  all  inharmonious 
thoughts,  he  would  gain  a  knowledge  of  its  cause 
which  would  enable  him  to  avoid  such  thinking 
under  all  similar  circumstances.  Such  a  course 
will  also  stimulate  mental  action,  will  be  helpful 
to  him  in  all  his  relations  to  external  circumstances, 
will  be  healthful  in  its  action  upon  his  entire  system, 
generate  life-giving  products  instead  of  poisonous 
ones,  and  will  give  him  strength  to  fulfil  the  duties 
of  each  hour  as  they  arise.  Once  started  in  the  right 
way,  he  may  go  on  through  his  whole  life  with  an 
ever  increasing  recognition  of  better  possibilities  and 
greater  powers. 

There  are  no  variations  in  this  course  of  procedure 
except  as  the  object  varies,  or  as  the  thinking  and 
its  duration  vary.  As  in  all  mental  conditions, 
though  the  victim  may  have  assistance  from  another, 


194  RIGHT  AND  WRONG  THINKING 

yet  the  real  effort  must  be  made  within  himself. 
This  mental  discipline  cannot  be  begun  too  soon, 
nor  can  it  be  exercised  upon  too  insignificant  con- 
ditions. As  soon  as  the  milder,  incipient  stages  of 
the  disease  are  observed  the  remedy  should  be  un- 
hesitatingly applied  with  determination  and  vigor. 
It  should  be  done  in  the  same  way  if  the  disease 
has  progressed  into  the  more  extreme  conditions, 
and  one  must  necessarily  be  one's  own  surgeon, 
cutting  off  the  offending  thoughts  without  the  slight- 
est hesitation  until,  by  persistent  repetition  of  the 
operation,  he  becomes  his  own  master.  Instead  of 
paralyzing  himself  with  the  weak,  self-indulgent 
thought  that  he  cannot  put  out  the  worry,  let  him 
dismiss  it  as  he  would  an  unwelcome  intruder  into 
his  privacy  or  an  objectionable  visitor  to  his  home. 
Let  him  put  up  a  sign  over  the  entrance  to  his  mind, 
"no  loafers,  beggars,  nor  thieves  allowed  here," 
and  then  relentlessly  enforce  the  prohibition. 

It  will  take  a  struggle  at  first,  perhaps  a  square 
stand-up  contest,  perhaps  a  "seven  years'  war,"  as 
was  that  of  our  Revolution  when  the  colonies  won 
their  freedom,  but  it  will  be  worth  the  effort,  however 
great  that  may  be.  To  the  person  who  excludes 
worry  from  his  mind  and  destroys  the  mental  habit 
the  revolution  will  be  more  important  than  was  that 


THE   WORRY   HABIT  1 95 

war  to   our  nation.     It   means   freedom,   comfort, 
happiness,  health,  and  the  prolongation  of  life. 

This  training  will  do  more  than  enable  one  to 
banish  worry  when  it  tries  to  invade  the  mind:  it 
will  establish  such  a  mental  condition  that  the  dis- 
cord will  not  begin,  and  the  eggs  that  hatch  the  vul- 
tures of  worry  will  never  be  laid.  When  the  knowl- 
edge and  practice  of  this  method  become  universal, 
they  will  drive  out  all  the  "blue  devils"  that  torment 
the  imagination,  exorcise  all  the  "spiritual  obses- 
sion" that  was  ever  heard  about,  and  prevent  any 
further  increase  in  the  population  of  the  insane 
asylums  of  the  world. 


XXVI 

BUSINESS  SUCCESS 

Avoidance  of  discordant  thinking  is  of  immense 
practical  value  in  business  affairs.  The  man  who 
gives  himself  over  to  disappointment,  regret,  grief, 
anxiety,  worry,  or  condemnation  of  himself  or 
others,  is  not  doing  anything  to  forward  his  business, 
but  he  is  consciously  or  unconsciously  cultivating 
a  mental  condition  which  will  destroy  his  ability  to 
arrive  at  correct  conclusions  and  to  act  upon  them 
promptly  and  efficiently;  therefore,  he  is  either 
hindering  or  misdirecting  the  operations  necessary 
to  success,  and  is  wasting  his  mental  and  physical 
strength  on  injurious  activity.  All  discordant  think- 
ing should  be  stopped  at  once,  and  that  energy  which 
has  been  expended  in  destructive  discord  should  be 
directed  into  productive  channels.  Let  him  care- 
fully examine  the  situation,  and  use  every  mental 
effort  in  making  and  prosecuting  plans  for  success, 
without  allowing  for  a  moment  the  thought  of  pos- 
sible defeat  to  paralyze  his  energies.     This  is  the 

196 


BUSINESS   SUCCESS  197 

advantage  held  by  each  one  who  has  previously 
trained  himself  in  the  exclusion  of  discordant  think- 
ing. One  who  has  not  done  this  should  begin  that 
training  at  once.  It  all  lies  with  himself,  and  it  is 
never  too  late  to  begin. 

Herein  is  the  difference  between  the  man  of 
twenty  or  thirty  and  the  one  of  fifty.  If  the  older 
man  meets  reverses,  he  seldom  recovers  himself.  The 
younger  man,  full  of  hope  and  confidence,  but  with- 
out experience  and  ignorant  of  the  difficulties  ahead 
of  him,  does  not  even  expect  them,  but  as  one  by  one 
they  appear,  fearlessly  meets  and  overcomes  them. 
The  older  man  has  experienced  all  these  difficulties, 
foresees  them  all,  is  staggered  by  his  vision  of  their 
united  magnitude,  and  supinely  allows  his  own  dis- 
cordant anticipations  to  frighten  him  out  of  making 
an  effort;  and  yet,  except  for  this,  the  older  man 
has  great  advantages  over  the  younger  because  of 
knowledge  derived  from  his  larger  experience  with 
men  and  things.  If  the  younger  man  could  add  to 
his  fearlessness  the  wisdom  of  the  older  one,  there 
is  little  that  could  stand  before  him;  and  if  the 
older  man  would  divest  himself  of  his  doubts, 
and  fears,  and  anxieties,  and  would  use  all  his 
energy  and  wisdom  in  meeting  the  difficulties 
which  he  foresees,  and  which,  foreseeing,  he  can  the 


198  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

better  cope  with,  he  might  snatch  a  brilliant  success 
from  the  very  jaws  of  defeat.  The  world  laughs  at 
the  confidence  of  ignorant  youth,  but  that  very 
confidence,  which  is  really  the  absence  of  discordant 
anticipations,  is  in  itself  one  great  reason  for  his 
success.  The  world  may  well  weep  over  that 
degeneration  in  the  older  person  which  arises  from 
his  fear  of  future  dangers  and  difficulties.  The 
younger  man  overcomes  the  defects  of  ignorance  by 
his  harmonious  thinking  which  is  unmodified  by 
fear  of  danger,  while  the  older  man,  notwithstanding 
his  superior  wisdom  and  ability,  is  defeated  by  his 
own  discordant  thinking. 

Herein  is  a  large  part  of  the  reason  why  egotistic 
persons  with  only  a  fair  share  of  ability  so  often 
succeed  where  others  of  greater  ability  fail.  Their 
own  confidence  creates  an  atmosphere  which  in- 
spires others  with  confidence  in  them  and  their 
plans,  and,  therefore,  they  receive  assistance  which 
helps  them  to  achieve  success  where  those  fail  who 
lack  that  trait.  Men  often  succeed  by  the  very 
impetus  of  their  own  self-confidence,  that  is,  by  the 
power  of  their  harmonious  thoughts  and  the  absence 
of  self-distrust  and  self-condemnation;  while  others 
with  far  greater  ability  signally  fail  for  no  reason 
except  their  own  hesitation  and  fear,  born  of  doubt 


BUSINESS   SUCCESS  1 99 

of  themselves.  In  these  two  lines  of  thinking  lie 
two  important  elements  of  success  or  failure.  There 
is  neither  necromancy  nor  other  mystery  connected 
with  it.  He  who  gives  up  his  mind  to  be  preyed 
upon  by  doubt,  fear,  and  irresolution  is  inviting  his 
own  defeat  and  is  himself  ministering  to  it,  but  he 
who  resolutely  dismisses  all  such  thoughts  is  taking 
the  necessary  first  step  toward  success. 

The  man  who  delivers  himself  over  to  discordant 
thinking  is  doing  the  same  kind  of  thing,  only  in  a 
different  way,  that  the  other  person  does  who 
wastes  his  time  and  benumbs  his  faculties  with 
intoxicants.  Many  a  man  has  sunk  into  uselessness, 
become  a  burden  to  his  friends  and  himself,  a  blot 
on  the  name  of  humanity,  solely  because  he  has 
allowed  discordant  thoughts  to  have  possession  of 
his  mind.  Death  and  insanity  find  their  causes, 
immediate  and  remote,  in  the  thinking  which  men 
have  indulged  in. 

The  man  seeking  employment,  who  allows  himself 
to  be  a  prey  to  despair  or  other  discordant  thinking, 
unwittingly  stamps  upon  his  features  and  moulds 
into  his  form  and  actions  peculiarities  which  those 
who  otherwise  would  desire  his  services  at  once 
recognize  as  reasons  for  refusing  his  application. 
But  if  those  thoughts  are  cut  off  as  an  excrescence 


200  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

would  be,  and  if  the  mind  is  filled  with  that  hope, 
expectancy,  and  confidence  which  come  from  the 
thought  that  success  is  deserved  and  will  be  achieved, 
the  gait,  the  attitude,  the  glance  of  the  eye,  the  whole 
man  become  transformed,  and  success  seeks  him  as 
earnestly  as  he  is  seeking  success. 

It  is  related  that  a  boy  entered  a  place  of  business 
and  told  the  proprietor  that  his  sign,  "Boy  Wanted," 
had  fallen  down.  "Well,"  responded  the  man, 
"why  didn't  you  hang  it  up  again?"  "Because 
you  don't  want  one  now.  I'm  the  boy  you  wanted." 
Whether  the  story  is  true  or  not,  it  illustrates  the 
confidence  which  follows  the  absence  of  fear,  doubt, 
and  their  attendant  uncertainties,  and  which  is  a 
strong  element  of  success. 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  exclusion  of  discordant 
thinking  shall  be  done  only  at  the  moment  of  neces- 
sity. It  should  be  the  continuous  mental  habit,  the 
result  of  careful  mental  training.  The  stamp  of 
any  habitual  mental  condition  cannot  be  entirely 
removed  on  the  instant,  but  each  person  may  al- 
ways keep  his  mind  in  the  right  condition,  and  then 
its  physical  expression  will  correspond,  and  there 
will  not  be  the  other  outward  appearances  to  need 
removal  or  control. 

Before   any   man   dismisses   as   "nonsense"   this 


BUSINESS   SUCCESS  201 

theory  of  business  success  through  correct  and  har- 
monious thinking,  let  him  analyze  his  own  mental 
habits  and  compare  the  results  in  his  business  with 
his  varying  mental  conditions.  Let  him  observe  on 
which  days  he  has  done  his  best  work,  with  the  least 
expenditure  of  vitality  —  those  filled  with  cheer  and 
hope  and  courage,  or  those  in  which  doubt  and  de- 
spondency held  sway.  On  which  days  have  those 
associated  with  him  responded  best  to  his  wishes? 
When  have  things  moved  most  harmoniously?  If 
every  man  will  thus  get  acquainted  with  himself 
and  the  results  of  his  own  mental  attitude,  he  will 
recognize  ample  reason  why  it  is  no  longer  good 
business  policy  to  waste  his  energy  and  destroy  his 
efficiency  by  discordant  thinking. 

But  what  if  failure  should  come  after  strict  ad- 
herence to  this  rule  of  mental  control  —  of  what 
advantage  has  it  been  to  him  who  fails?  This  is 
his  advantage:  he  remains  perfectly  poised,  his 
judgment  clear,  his  courage  undaunted,  his  faith  in 
ultimate  success  unshaken;  he  is  neither  a  nervous 
nor  a  physical  wreck,  but,  instead,  is  all  ready  to 
make  a  new  beginning  and  to  profit  by  his  past 
mistakes. 


XXVII 
UNDIVIDED   ATTENTION 

What  precedes  shows  clearly  the  method  for 
securing  that  undivided  attention  which  is  so  es- 
sential to  success  in  all  kinds  of  work,  whether 
mental  or  physical.  "Mind  your  business"  is  a 
wise  injunction,  even  if  blunt.  It  is  all  embraced 
in  the  advice  to  dismiss  all  thoughts  other  than 
those  which  pertain  exclusively  to  that  which  is  in 
hand  at  the  particular  moment. 

The  accountant  who  allows  his  mind  to  wander 
to  other  subjects  when  adding  a  column  of  figures 
cannot  do  his  work  so  rapidly  or  so  accurately  as 
the  one  who  shuts  out  all  thoughts  except  those 
connected  with  his  work.  He  must  cease  thinking 
of  other  things  and  think  only  of  his  addition.  It 
must  be  one  thing  at  a  time.  The  ability  to  exclude 
one  kind  of  thoughts  from  the  mind  enables  one  to 
exclude  any  thought,  therefore  practice  in  the  ex- 
clusion of  discordant  thoughts  will  be  an  efficient 
preparation    for   success   in    avoiding   all   thoughts 

202 


UNDIVIDED   ATTENTION  203 

which  do  not  pertain  to  the  work  immediately  in 
hand. 

When  the  accountant  is  in  the  middle  of  a  long 
column  of  figures,  perhaps  his  employer  asks  him 
a  question.  He  should  have  so  trained  himself  in 
the  control  of  his  thinking  that  on  the  instant  he 
can  shut  out  of  his  mind  all  thought  of  the  work  he 
was  doing  when  the  question  was  asked,  think  of 
nothing  else  but  the  subject  proposed,  and  answer 
the  question  as  completely  as  though  he  had  never 
thought  of  his  addition.  Then,  in  its  turn,  that 
subject,  when  he  is  done  with  it,  should  be  dropped 
out  of  his  mind  completely,  and  he  should  return  to 
the  work  he  was  doing  when  interrupted,  with  a 
similar  exclusion  of  all  else  but  thoughts  of  the  work 
in  hand. 

Such  changes  should  always  be  accomplished 
without  allowing  irritation,  impatience,  anger,  or 
other  discordant  thinking  because  of  the  interrup- 
tion. The  accountant's  time  is  his  employer's, 
his  business  is  to  do  the  work  required  by  his  em- 
ployer, and  whether  his  employer  chooses  to  set  him 
at  one  branch  of  work  or  another  does  not  concern 
the  employee.  Many  a  clerk,  because  of  occurrences 
like  this,  has  habitually  allowed  some  form  of  irrita- 
tion to  take  such  possession  of  his  mind  as  to  interfere 


204  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

seriously  with  his  mental  ability,  ruin  his  efficiency, 
and  destroy  his  health.  This  has  caused  many  a 
nervous  breakdown  which  was  charged  to  over- 
work or  hard  work  when  its  cause  was  not  the  work 
at  all,  but  was  solely  the  frequent  irritation  —  some- 
thing which  the  clerk  himself  might  have  wholly 
avoided  without  any  change  of  action  on  the  part  of 
his  employer. 

What  has  been  said  is  true  of  every  occupation 
and  applies  to  activities  of  all  kinds.  The  essential 
condition  is  that,  although  nothing  may  be  over- 
looked or  omitted,  there  should  be  one  thing  in  the 
mind  at  one  time  —  and  no  more.  The  mental 
ability  to  do  this  can  be  attained  by  the  practice 
already  advocated,  and  the  method  can  be  applied 
to  all  occupations. 

The  attention  (attention  is  thinking)  should  be 
directed  to  the  one  thing  that  a  person  is  doing  to 
the  total  exclusion  of  everything  else,  whether  the 
work  is  simple  or  complicated.  If  complicated,  the 
attention  should  be  fixed  successively  on  each  ele- 
ment of  the  complication  to  the  exclusion  for  the 
time  of  all  the  others.  When  the  first  item  of  the 
series  is  completed,  let  it  immediately  become  a 
thing  of  the  past,  because  the  mind  ought  to  be  fully 
and  exclusively  occupied  with  the  next;    and  so  on 


UNDIVIDED  ATTENTION  205 

successively,  each  in  its  order,  omitting  none.  If 
thoughts  of  other  things  besides  the  work  in  hand 
are  allowed  to  enter  the  mind,  some  point  in  the 
execution  of  the  work  is  liable  to  be  overlooked  or 
perhaps  forgotten  entirely.  The  mind  cannot  suc- 
cessfully attend  to  two  things  at  once,  for  a  part  of 
the  mind  can  never  accomplish  as  much  as  the  whole, 
and  divided  attention  always  causes  inefficiency  in 
some  direction.  In  mental  or  physical  labor  the 
principle  is  the  same,  because  mental  action  is  at 
the  basis  of  the  whole,  and  therefore  the  rule  is  the 
same  for  both. 

As  in  the  mental  so  in  the  physical,  it  is  only 
through  successful  control  of  the  smaller  and  more 
minute  or  apparently  insignificant  things  that  abil- 
ity is  gained  to  grapple  with  the  greater  or  more 
abstract  and  general  affairs.  This  is  because  the 
physical  action  depends  on  the  mental  and  is  caused 
by  it.  In  every  walk  of  life  without  exception,  and 
in  every  period  of  its  course,  control  of  the  thinking 
is  of  the  greatest  value  and  importance.  The 
earlier  this  control  is  attained  the  better,  but  it  is 
never  too  late  to  begin. 

Sometimes  an  almost  unnoticed  but  continuous 
and  persistent  undercurrent  of  some  kind  of  think- 
ing entirely  foreign  to  the  work  in  hand  divides  and 


206  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

receives  more  or  less  of  the  attention.  This  may 
appear  in  any  one  of  a  thousand  forms,  having 
originated  in  some  incident  or  condition  of  large 
or  small  importance  which,  for  some  indefinite 
reason  or  apparently  for  no  reason  at  all,  has  fastened 
itself  strongly  upon  the  mind.  Often  this  vaguely 
noticed  thought  is  more  difficult  to  exclude  from  the 
attention  than  one  more  consciously  present,  but 
its  presence  is  a  continuous  menace  to  undivided 
attention ;  for,  panther-like,  it  stands  ready  to  spring 
into  prominence  through  the  slightest  opening  of 
circumstance.  When  the  mind  is  directly  engaged, 
it  makes  little  difference  whether  it  is  mere  revery, 
listlessness,  or  vagueness  which  detracts  from  the 
attention.  The  result  will  be  the  same.  Whatever 
the  character  of  the  intruder,  success  is  gained  only 
by  its  complete  exclusion. 

Such  a  course  of  procedure  as  here  indicated  may 
be  called  concentration  of  the  mind  upon  the  par- 
ticular subject  in  hand,  but  concentration  is  usually 
accompanied  by  consciousness  of  more  or  less 
strenuous  mental  effort,  and,  as  has  already  been  set 
forth,  this  mental  exclusion  should  be  accomplished 
without  effort  —  simply  by  letting  go  of  all  thoughts 
except  those  directly  required  for  the  prosecution 
of    the   work.     Insomuch   as    there   is   stress   and 


UNDIVIDED   ATTENTION  207 

strain,  there  is  instituted  a  second  line  of  discordant 
thinking  running  alongside  of  the  one  whose  ex- 
clusion is  desired,  and  this  gives  the  mind  a  double 
duty  to  perform,  thus  defeating  the  object  sought 
by  the  very  effort  to  accomplish  it. 


xxvin 

IMPORTANCE  OF  EARLY  TRAINING 

The  importance  of  the  early  education  of  children 
is  well  understood,  because  it  is  recognized  that 
the  early  training  lasts  longest  and  most  strongly  in- 
fluences life  and  character.  A  modern  writer  has 
only  echoed  the  opinion  of  all  careful  observers 
when  he  says :  "  More  that  is  elementary  —  a  key  to 
all  the  rest  —  is  learned  in  the  cradle  and  beside 
the  mother's  chair  than  in  all  after  time."  And  a 
great  religious  organization  is  said  to  hold  that  if  it 
can  have  the  direction  of  the  young  life  for  its  first 
seven  years  it  cares  little  who  has  it  afterward. 

Every  one  who  has  learned  the  value  of  the  sug- 
gestions set  forth  in  these  pages,  whether  through  his 
own  experience  in  their  practical  application  or 
through  his  observation  of  others,  has  also  learned 
that  much  pain,  suffering,  difficulty,  and  perhaps 
disaster  might  have  been  avoided  if  he  had  been 
taught  these  things  early  in  life.  Recognition  of 
the  advantages  derived  from  such  teaching  takes 

208 


IMPORTANCE   OF   EARLY   TRAINING  20Q 

one  back  to  the  earliest  days  of  childhood  and  sug- 
gests many  thoughts  of  lost  possibilities. 

He  who  attempts  to  instruct  along  these  lines 
often  hears  exclamations  like  these:  "What  if  I 
had  been  told  when  a  child !"  "Oh,  if  all  children 
were  only  taught  this !  How  it  would  save  them,  as 
it  would  have  saved  me!"  The  world  only  half 
recognizes  the  importance  of  the  very  earliest  train- 
ing. The  child  even  when  in  the  cradle  may  be 
taught.  "As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  is  inclined, " 
and  the  earlier  the  bending,  the  more  easily  is  it  done. 

Painful  or  disastrous  experiences  in  hard  places 
are  not  necessary,  and  they  would  not  have  to  be 
endured  if,  before  the  time  of  their  occurrence,  the 
proper  instruction  had  been  given  and  received. 
The  child  need  not  burn  itself  in  order  to  avoid  the 
hot  stove,  because  it  may  be  so  instructed  by  the 
wise  parent  that  it  will  avoid  the  stove  without 
the  painful  experience.  Similarly,  in  later  years,  the 
person  need  not  have  the  suffering  and  disease  nor 
the  vice  and  immorality  which  arise  from  erroneous 
thinking,  if  the  proper  early  instruction  has  been 
given. 

Without  knowing  it,  the  mother  is  acting  in  com- 
pliance with  great  fundamental  principles  when  she 
directs  the  crying  infant's  attention  to  something 


2IO  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

different  from  the  cause  of  its  trouble  in  order  that 
the  object  of  the  crying  may  be  forgotten.  This 
change  of  thought  by  change  of  external  suggestion 
is  exactly  what  the  physician  expects  when  he  sends 
his  patients  to  new  scenes  and  surroundings.  The 
change  of  scene  induces  a  change  in  thinking,  and 
in  that  way  the  infirmity  is  healed.  He  is  merely 
repeating  the  mother  method. 

It  is  only  needed  to  teach  the  child  to  make  such 
mental  changes  himself  while  in  the  midst  of  the 
circumstances  and  suggestions  that  cause  the  trouble. 
This  can  be  done  by  repeatedly  calling  the  child's 
attention  to  what  happens  when  some  one  else 
diverts  his  attention  from  the  cause  of  his  discord, 
and  showing  him  how  he  can  do  the  same  thing 
himself  without  the  intervention  of  another.  Such 
instruction  is  really  cultivation  of  that  most  desirable 
attainment,  self-control,  because  each  such  incident 
is  really  a  practical  lesson  in  the  art.  The  impor- 
tance of  this  method  and  its  great  advantages  over 
abrupt  and  violent  arbitrary  command  have  seldom 
been  fully  understood  or  appreciated.  One  is  along 
right  lines,  inviting  and  receiving  the  cooperation 
of  the  child.  The  other  is  wrong  in  principle  and 
invariably  arouses  opposition  and  resistance.  One 
makes.     The  other  literally  breaks. 


IMPORTANCE   OF   EARLY   TRAINING  211 

Practical  instruction  in  accordance  with  the  true 
principles  can  begin  just  as  soon  as  the  little  one  has 
recognized  his  own  thinking,  and  this  occurs  much 
earlier  than  is  usually  supposed.  Let  the  intelli- 
gent adult  turn  backward  in  memory  to  the  time 
when  he  first  recognized  what  it  is  to  think.  If  he 
has  not  done  this  before,  he  will  be  surprised  to 
recall  how  young  he  was  when  this  experience  first 
came  to  him.  The  wise  parent  can  by  right  sugges- 
tion easily  make  this  date  much  earlier  than  it 
otherwise  would  be.  Then,  along  with  the  injunc- 
tions not  to  do  this  or  that,  can  come  the  similar 
injunction  not  to  think  of  the  disturbing  thing,  but 
to  think  of  something  else.  If  begun  early  enough, 
it  is  little  more  difficult  to  teach  a  child  not  to  think 
certain  thoughts  than  to  teach  it  not  to  perform 
certain  acts.  Thus  in  earliest  life  the  most  desirable 
mental  habits  may  be  established,  and  the  foundation 
may  be  laid  for  most  valuable  elements  of  character. 

There  is  no  need  of  complicating  the  child's 
conditions  with  the  large  amount  of  contributing 
information  which  the  adult  often  requires  before 
his  mind  is  satisfied  of  the  accuracy  of  a  proposition. 
That  can  come  later.  The  child  naturally  accepts 
the  parental  assertion  without  question,  and  instruc- 
tion  can   be   reduced   to   its   very   simplest   form. 


212  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

Experience  will  bring  all  the  rest,  and  with  each 
experience  the  habit  will  become  more  firmly 
established. 

Very  early  the  child's  observation  can  be  directed 
to  the  great  though  simple  fact  that  thinking  comes 
first  and  that  without  thinking  there  will  not  be  any 
action.  Important  as  this  statement  is,  it  is  so 
simple  that  it  is  entirely  within  the  possibilities  of 
the  child's  comprehension,  and  an  understanding  of 
this  fact  will  greatly  emphasize  the  parental  instruc- 
tion. All  that  will  then  be  needed  is  cultivation  of 
the  moral  qualities  and  an  explanation  of  their  re- 
lation to  the  thinking  and  acting,  which  should  be 
a  part  of  the  training  of  every  child.  Of  course 
there  must  be  with  this,  as  there  is  with  all  instruc- 
tion of  children,  the  frequent  and  patient  repetition 
of  precept,  explanation,  and  example.  In  any 
kind  of  training  of  young  or  old  it  is  line  upon  line 
and  precept  upon  precept.  This  education  cannot 
begin  too  soon,  nor  can  it  be  prosecuted  too  assidu- 
ously. 

In  this  mental  training  of  the  child  there  is  a  wide 
field  for  the  parent  and  an  equally  wide  one  for 
the  kindergartner  and  the  primary  teacher,  and 
indeed  for  all  teachers;  but  the  secure  foundation 
ought  to  be  laid  before  the  young  life  comes  in  con- 


IMPORTANCE   OF   EARLY   TRAINING  213 

tact  with  those  who  are  called  more  advanced  in- 
structors. Instruction  and  practice  must  necessarily 
continue  until  perfect  control  of  the  mental  pro- 
cesses has  been  gained,  and  the  last  trace  of  erro- 
neous or  discordant  thinking  has  disappeared.  Noth- 
ing less  than  this  should  be  the  object  of  either  child 
or  adult. 

Training  and  education  because  of  the  child 
should  begin  even  earlier  than  this.  Since  think- 
ing is  the  initial  action  among  human  actions,  it 
follows  that  the  thought  of  the  mother  before  the 
child  is  born  is  a  formative  thought  which,  to  a  large 
extent,  decides  the  mental  conditions  and  character 
of  the  infant.  Both  observation  and  experiment 
show  that  our  basic  proposition  applies  here  with 
the  same  force  as  elsewhere,  though  physical  changes 
are  inoperative.  The  mental  alone  is  efficacious. 
Mutilations  do  not  affect  anything  beyond  the  one 
mutilated.  The  Chinese  have  compressed  the  feet 
of  their  girl  babies  for  centuries,  yet  the  girls  are 
born  with  feet  capable  of  normal  development. 
But  the  physical  type  of  any  race  is  not  any  more 
persistent  than  their  mental  characteristics;  indeed, 
their  physical  peculiarities  change  with  changed 
mental  conditions.  The  ancient  Greeks  attained 
their  beautiful  bodily  configuration  by  controlling 


214  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

the  mental  habits  of  the  mothers,  and  by  thus  influ- 
encing the  physical  development  of  children  they 
controlled  that  of  the  whole  people.  Their  object 
was  beauty  of  form.  How  much  more  important 
and  valuable  are  correct  mental  and  moral  charac- 
teristics ! 

The  mother,  by  control  of  her  own  thinking,  can 
make  what  she  will  of  her  unborn  child.  Here  in 
the  very  beginning  of  the  new  life  is  greater  need, 
greater  opportunity,  and  greater  advantage  to  the 
child,  than  the  future  holds,  for  the  foundation  is 
being  laid.  But  this  depends  for  its  success  upon 
the  power  which  the  mother  herself  already  pos- 
sesses through  her  control  of  her  own  mental  ac- 
tions. Both  parents  have  their  part  here,  and  there- 
fore both  should  be  ready  for  doing  the  appropriate 
work  in  the  best  way;  hence  they  should  them- 
selves be  already  in  possession  of  thorough  mental 
discipline  and  self-control.  This  means  years  of 
previous  self-training  for  both,  but  it  also  means  a 
more  advantageous  start  in  life  for  the  child  and  a 
better  outlook  for  its  future  prosperity  and  success. 
It  also  means  a  better  nation  and  a  better  race. 

In  view  of  these  facts  the  statement  of  Dr.  Holmes 
that  the  training  of  a  child  should  begin  three  hun- 
dred years  before  its  birth  does  not  seem  an  exag- 


IMPORTANCE    OF    EARLY   TRAINING  215 

geration.  An  incentive  for  all  young  persons  to 
maintain  energetically  and  efficiently  the  cultivation 
and  practice  of  mental  control  lies  in  the  fact  that 
by  so  doing  they  are  preparing  themselves  to  usher 
into  existence  better  children,  more  fully  equipped 
for  their  places  in  the  world.  Thus  they  are  bene- 
fiting not  only  themselves  but  those  who  are  to  be 
dearer  to  them  than  their  own  lives.  President  Hall 
sums  up  the  whole  in  a  very  terse  and  true  declara- 
tion: "  Every  experience  of  body  or  soul  bears  on 
heredity,  and  the  best  life  is  that  which  is  best  for 
the  unborn."  That  which  is  truly  best  for  one  is 
really  best  for  all. 

The  grand  possibilities  for  improvement  which 
this  opens  up  for  the  person,  and  through  the  per- 
son for  the  race,  are  incalculable.  The  method  is 
simple.  Here  as  much  as  anywhere,  perhaps  more 
than  anywhere  else,  appear  the  value  and  influence 
of  the  right  mental  action  of  each  in  its  effect  on 
others  and  on  the  world  at  large. 


XXIX 
THREE  NOTABLE  EXAMPLES 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  possessed  most  remarkable 
control  of  his  thinking,  which  enabled  him  to  exclude 
from  his  mind  completely  all  those  thoughts  which 
he  chose,  and  thus  not  only  devote  his  entire  atten- 
tion to  the  one  subject  in  hand,  but  even  seemingly 
to  make  himself  over  into  another  personage. 

It  is  claimed  that  he  was  naturally  humane,  gen- 
erous, and  sympathetic.  If  this  be  true,  then  he 
could  effectually  dismiss  all  such  thoughts  from  his 
mind,  because  he  could  become  as  hard  as  steel.  At 
one  time  he  seemed  dominated  by  one  set  of  ideas, 
and  by  another  set  at  another  time.  He  was,  in- 
deed, so  changeable  as  to  puzzle  not  only  his  biog- 
raphers, but  the  world.  So  complete  were  his 
changes  that  his  admirers  are  uncertain  which  was 
the  real  man.  The  probability  is  that  one  was  as 
real  as  the  other,  because  his  own  statements  indi- 
cate that  these  peculiarities  were  the  result  of  in- 
tended change  of  thinking  as  the  circumstances  or 

216 


THREE   NOTABLE   EXAMPLES  21 7 

his  judgment  dictated.  "He  compared  his  mind 
to  a  chest  of  drawers,  where  each  subject  occupied 
its  separate  space.  In  turn  he  opened  each  drawer. 
No  one  subject  got  mixed  with  another.  When  all 
the  drawers  were  shut  he  fell  asleep.  Of  course  this 
was  not  literally  true,  but  during  his  best  years  it 
came  as  near  being  literally  true  as  is  possible  to  the 
human  brain."  * 

In  his  life  there  were  many  instances  of  this  per- 
fect control  of  his  own  thinking.  When  his  prepa- 
rations had  been  made  and  his  troops  were  engaged 
in  battle,  if  all  was  going  as  he  had  planned,  he 
could  slumber  peacefully  while  the  most  horrible 
carnage  was  in  progress.  He  did  this  repeatedly. 
At  Jena  he  slept  on  the  ground  while  the  battle 
raged.  At  Austerlitz,  after  his  arrangements  had 
been  completed,  he  slept  in  the  straw  of  a  hut  as 
peacefully  as  an  infant.  These  things  were  possi- 
ble only  through  his  great  mental  control;  and 
though  there  is  much  in  his  career  that  cannot  be 
commended  and  should  not  be  emulated,  yet  his 
mental  control  was  most  admirable.  He  is  one  of 
the  great  examples  of  what  can  be  accomplished  by 
this  means,  and  every  one  may  profitably  pattern 
after  him  in  this  respect. 

1  Watson's  Napoleon,  p.  40 1. 


2l8  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

George  W.  Smalley,  writing  of  Gladstone,  says: 
"If  Mr.  Gladstone  had  one  mental  characteristic 
more  distinctly  marked  than  another,  it  was  his 
power  of  absolutely  excluding  any  given  subject 
from  his  mind  and  concentrating  his  whole  intellec- 
tual energy  on  some  other  subject.  Always,  what- 
ever it  was,  one  at  a  time.  In  the  same  way  he 
could  and  would  exclude  all  subjects  when  the  time 
came  for  rest."  ■ 

In  the  same  article  he  quotes  what  Mr.  Gladstone 
says  of  himself:  "Of  course  it  has  been  an  anxious 
life.  I  have  had  to  make  many  decisions  of  the 
highest  importance  in  public  affairs.  I  have  given 
each  one  of  them  the  best  attention  I  could.  I  have 
weighed  arguments  and  facts,  and  made  up  my 
mind  as  best  I  could,  and  then  dismissed  the  sub- 
ject. I  have  had  to  make  a  great  many  speeches, 
and  have  made  them  as  well  as  I  knew  how,  and 
then  an  end.  But  if,  after  I  had  taken  a  decision 
or  made  a  speech,  I  had  begun  to  worry  over  it  and 
to  say  to  myself,  'Perhaps  I  ought  to  have  given 
greater  weight  to  this  or  that  fact,  or  did  not  fully 
consider  this  or  that  argument,  or  might  have  put 
this  consideration  more  fully  in  my  speech,  or 
turned  this  sentence  better,  or  made  a  stronger  ap- 

1  Harper's  Monthly,  August,  1S9S. 


THREE   NOTABLE   EXAMPLES  210. 

peal  to  my  audience '  —  if  I  had  done  this  instead 
of  doing  my  best  while  I  could  and  then  totally  dis- 
missing the  matter  from  my  mind,  I  should  have 
been  in  my  grave  twenty  years  ago." 

Jacob  Riis  says  in  his  story  of  President  Roose- 
velt: "The  faculty  of  forgetting  all  else  but  the 
topic  in  hand  is  one  of  the  great  secrets  of  his  success 
in  whatever  he  has  undertaken  as  an  official.  It  is 
the  faculty  of  getting  things  done.  They  tell  stories 
yet,  that  go  around  the  board  of  class  dinners,  of 
how  he  would  come  into  a  fellow-student's  room  for 
a  visit,  and,  picking  up  a  book,  would  become  im- 
mediately and  wholly  absorbed  in  its  contents,  then 
wake  up  with  a  guilty  start  to  confess  that  his  whole 
hour  was  gone,  and  hurry  away.  In  all  the  wild 
excitement  of  the  closing  hours  of  the  convention 
that  set  him  in  the  vice-president's  chair,  he,  alone, 
in  an  inner  room,  was  reading  Thucydides,  says 
Albert  Shaw,  who  was  with  him.  He  was  resting. 
I  saw  him  pick  up  a  book  in  a  lull  in  the  talk  the 
other  day,  and  instantly  forget  all  things  else." 


XXX 

THE  PENALTY  FOR  SIN 

Although  exclusion  of  discordant  thinking  car- 
ries with  it  avoidance  of  discordant  physical  condi- 
tions, let  it  not  be  imagined  that  the  sinner,  by 
the  exclusion  from  his  mind  of  such  thoughts  as 
sorrow,  regret,  remorse,  and  self-condemnation,  can 
escape  the  rightful  penalty  for  his  deeds.  His  sin- 
ful course  is  itself  discordant  and  produces  its  own 
discordant  consequences  from  which  there  is  no 
escape  except  by  abandoning  it.  Each  discordant 
condition  has  its  own  consequences,  and  the  exclu- 
sion of  one  of  those  conditions  from  the  mind  docs 
not  bring  avoidance  of  the  consequences  of  the 
others.  It  is  true  that  a  man  may  avoid  all  the 
suffering  which  might  be  caused  by  regret  if  he  will 
exclude  regret  from  his  mind,  but  that  would  not  in 
the  slightest  relieve  him  of  the  suffering  which  the 
commission  of  sin  has  already  caused. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  suffering  occasioned  by 
remorse  for  acts  committed  is  directly  attributable 
to  those  acts  themselves,  for  had  there  not  been  any 

220 


THE   PENALTY   FOR   SIN  221 

such  acts,  there  would  not  have  been  any  such 
thoughts.  Grant  this;  but  each  discordant  thought 
brings  its  own  punishment,  and  the  sinner  would 
have  no  more  suffering  from  such  thoughts  than 
would  the  virtuous  person  who,  laboring  under  the 
mistake  that  he  has  acted  wrongly,  gives  himself 
up  to  thinking  of  this  kind. 

A  case  in  point  is  that  of  a  clergyman  of  upright 
and  exemplary  life  and  character  who  in  some  way 
became  possessed  by  the  erroneous  idea  that  he  had 
committed  the  unpardonable  sin.  His  remorse  and 
despair  were  extreme,  and  he  sank  into  his  grave,  a 
victim  of  the  discordant  thoughts  which  were  pro- 
voked by  his  hallucination.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
his  suffering  and  death  were  the  result  of  his  sin, 
because  he  had  not  sinned;  they  were  the  result  of 
his  discordant  thinking. 

Of  course,  in  the  case  of  the  sinful  man,  as  with 
the  innocent,  suffering  may  be  occasioned  by  grief, 
regret,  remorse,  and  the  like,  and  it  may  be  avoided 
by  avoiding  such  thinking;  but  that  erroneous 
thinking  which  culminates  in  what  is  called  sin  is 
discordant  in  and  of  itself  alone,  and  out  of  these 
discordant  conditions  must  come  their  legitimate 
discordant  results  independent  of  whatever  may 
arise  from  any  other  source  and  in  addition  to  it. 


222  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

This  discordant  thinking  and  acting  is  a  class  b^ 
itself,  and  its  results  must  stand  in  a  class  by  them- 
selves; therefore,  though  a  man  may  banish  all 
other  discordant  thinking  and  acting  and  thus  avoid 
their  consequences,  yet  he  will  still  have  the  discord 
caused  by  his  sinning,  and  he  cannot  escape  its 
results. 

Though  such  a  man  may  present  the  appearance 
of  health  and  strength,  yet  his  error  will  surely  find 
him  out.  One  need  not  flatter  himself  that  he  can 
evade  the  penalty  of  a  single  evil,  sinful,  or  discord- 
ant thought  or  action,  by  harmonious  thinking  and 
pure  conduct  in  all  other  particulars.  The  penalty 
for  the  single  violation  can  no  more  be  avoided  than 
can  the  greater  penalty  when  all  the  thoughts  and 
actions  are  discordant.  Thinking  produces  actions 
like  itself;  the  error  thought  not  only  perpetuates 
itself  but  develops  and  enlarges  its  own  error,  and 
sooner  or  later  suffering  of  some  kind  follows.  It 
is  as  inevitable  as  that  consequences  follow  causes. 
One  must  put  away  all  sinful  thinking  and  acting  if 
he  would  escape  all  penalty.  Banished  discord  does 
not  leave  any  sting  in  its  trail,  but  just  so  far  as  it  is 
indulged  it  will  surely  bear  its  bitter  fruit. 

The  deed  that  is  done  is  beyond  recall;  the  word 
that  is  spoken  cannot  be  unsaid;    the  thought  that 


THE   PENALTY   FOR   SIN  223 

has  flashed  across  the  horizon  of  the  mind  has  left 
its  image,  like  that  of  lightning  across  the  sky,  and 
each  has  shot  its  consequences  into  the  future. 
There  is  nothing  more  inevitable  than  these  conse- 
quences, whether  for  good  or  for  evil.  The  good 
result  from  the  good  is  just  as  sure  as  the  bad  result 
from  the  bad;  nature  works  with  absolute  impar- 
tiality; it  rests  with  each  man  to  decide  which  it 
shall  be,  good  or  evil.  The  world  may  never  see 
the  consequences  of  a  man's  act;  his  most  intimate 
friends  may  not  suspect  it ;  he  may  not  himself  con- 
nect his  condition  with  it;  but  the  consequence  is 
inevitable. 

Neither  the  world,  nor  the  man's  enemies,  nor  his 
intimates,  need  to  trouble  themselves ;  he  will  surely 
reap  the  consequences  of  his  conduct.  Men, 
whether  friends  or  enemies,  are  always  too  prone 
to  condemn ;  but,  whatever  their  opinion,  their  con- 
demnation can  be  neither  right  nor  wise;  nor  is  it 
needed  to  bring  about  the  results  which  are  justly 
due.  Those  who  indulge  in  condemnation  may 
have  no  compunctions  about  it  and  may  think  it  is 
deserved  by  the  culprit,  yet  such  thinking  is  itself 
discordant,  and  the  penalty  for  discordant  thinking 
will  never  fail  to  reach  him  who  sits  in  judgment  on 
another. 


224  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

Even  the  libertine  and  the  murderer  who  are 
never  found  out,  and  those  who  escape  punishment 
by  legal  process,  will  get  the  just  reward  for  their 
course.  Though  the  man  who  commits  a  wrong 
may,  in  his  own  mind,  justify  himself  for  it,  or,  be- 
cause of  erroneous  thinking,  may  even  have  the 
opinion  that  he  has  done  an  admirable  act,  yet  his 
course  will  finally  bring  down  upon  him  its  conse- 
quences in  some  form  of  suffering  or  deprivation 
though  it  be  nothing  more  than  the  condition  of  not 
knowing,  not  understanding,  and  thus  not  receiving 
and  not  having  those  desirable  qualities  or  things 
which  otherwise  would  have  been  his.  While  such 
deprivations  may  be  considered  mild  punishment, 
yet  who  can  measure  their  extent  or  their  impor- 
tance ;   and  who  shall  judge  ? 

The  punishment  inflicted  by  man  upon  his  brother 
man  is  of  the  same  general  character,  for  it  consists 
almost  wholly  in  depriving  the  condemned  person 
of  what  would  otherwise  belong  to  him  and  be  en- 
joyed by  him.  What  else  is  a  fine  but  depriving  a 
man  of  property;  or  imprisonment  but  depriving 
him  of  freedom ;  or  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law 
buc  depriving  him  of  his  life?  In  one  way  or  an- 
other, part  or  all  of  these  will  come  to  the  erring 
man  without  the  intervention  of  another;   and  with 


THE   PENALTY   FOR   SIN  225 

them  will  come  many  other  conditions  which  no  one 
else  could  inflict  upon  him.  Of  vastly  more  impor- 
tance than  all  else  is  the  loss  of  those  mental  and 
moral  qualities  which  the  wrong-doer,  by  his  own 
action,  deprives  himself  of.  He  finds  indeed  that 
"the  wages  of  sin  is  death"  —  death  to  all  his  nobler 
and  higher  instincts. 

For  centuries  the  fear  of  hell  has  been  considered 
a  restraint  on  the  wicked;  but  the  punishment  here 
noted  is  more  unerring  and  more  certain.  There  is 
not  any  postponement  to  an  indefinite  future  nor  is 
there  any  way  of  escape.  It  has  its  beginning  in  the 
very  act  itself,  even  in  the  thought  which  produced 
the  act,  just  as  the  plant  exists  in  the  seed,  the  cause 
in  its  consequence.  The  man  who  lies  must  tell  a 
dozen  more  to  cover  that  one,  and  will  always  be 
haunted  by  the  fear  of  being  found  out.  Thus  the 
error  becomes  its  own  punishment,  which  is  from 
within  itself  and  is  in  the  form  of  more  and  greater 
error.  The  consequence  must  in  every  case  be  ex- 
actly adjusted  to  its  cause,  therefore  the  punishment 
must  be  exactly  proportioned  to  the  guilt.  The 
scales  of  natural  justice  are  always  balanced  with 
even  fidelity.  Gravitation  is  not  more  steadfast. 
Indeed,  error  is  the  gravitation  of  morals,  but  it 
does  not  have  a  stopping-place  as  the  falling  stone 


226  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

has.  It  is  itself  the  bottomless  pit.  It  is  its  own 
destiny,  ordained  and  unchangeable.  Principle 
never  changes;  causation  never  falters  nor  wavers. 
Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  the  way  of  escape 
from  punishment  is  included  in  this  unwavering 
inviolability  of  principle  which  punishes  so  relent- 
lessly. There  is  forgiveness  for  the  evil,  but  only 
in  the  entire  abandonment  of  the  evil  course  of  act- 
ing, speaking,  or  thinking.  Their  continuance,  or 
the  continuance  of  either  of  them,  is  the  continuance 
of  the  cause,  and  that  is  the  inexorable  and  sure  con- 
tinuance of  their  consequences ;  but  it  is  the  cause 
which  produces  the  consequences,  and  if  the  cause  is 
not  allowed  to  exist,  there  will  not  be  any  conse- 
quences. The  seed  of  the  thistle  need  not  be 
planted,  and  then  there  will  not  be  any  thistles; 
but  even  if  it  has  been  planted  and  has  already 
sprung  up,  it  may  be  cut  down  and  its  roots  may 
be  dug  out  so  as  to  exterminate  it  completely. 


XXXI 
A  STORY  AND  ITS  LESSON 

Avoidance  of  discordant  thinking  is  of  great  so- 
cial as  well  as  personal  advantage  to  the  one  who 
has  attained  it.  It  is  a  mild  power,  but  it  is  of  tre- 
mendous effectiveness. 

Whether  we  know  it  or  not,  we  always  arouse 
thoughts  in  others  similar  to  those  which  fill  our 
own  minds.  Anger  in  one  person  provokes  anger  in 
others,  and  love  begets  love.  Fear  brings  fear,  and 
confidence  inspires  confidence.  The  cheerfulness  of 
one  person  will  pervade  a  roomful,  and  if  persisted 
in  it  may  extend  to  a  whole  neighborhood.  Even 
the  most  retiring  and  least  assertive  have  their  influ- 
ence upon  others  far  beyond  their  own  recognition. 

Intention  does  not  alone  control  the  impression 
made  upon  another,  because  there  may  be  a  differ- 
ence between  its  character  and  the  method  of  its 
execution  which  may  produce  a  result  contrary  to 
that  intended;  besides,  there  may  be  some  strong 
dominant  thought  in  the  background  which  is  quite 

227 


228  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

different  from  the  intention.  Mere  possession  of 
this  positive  thought,  without  any  effort  or  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  thinker,  affects  and  influences  others, 
and  the  more  earnest  or  positive  the  thought,  the 
more  efficacious  will  it  be,  and  the  more  certain  and 
definite  will  be  the  result.  It  does  not  need  any 
intention  to  influence  others,  but  only  the  earnest 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  thinker  himself  to  be  right 
and  to  think  right. 

A  teacher  in  one  of  the  public  schools  of  Boston 
had  an  assistant  assigned  to  her  in  her  school- 
room. This  threw  two  strangers  into  close  rela- 
tionship during  the  school  hours  of  every  day. 
They  soon  found  that  they  were  each  in  such  a 
mental  condition  that  if  either  made  a  suggestion 
or  expressed  an  opinion  it  disturbed  or  irritated 
the  other.  The  mental  disturbance  or  irritation 
thus  aroused  was  a  mild  form  of  anger,  though 
each  would  have  preferred  to  call  it  by  some  other 
name.  This  was  of  such  frequent  occurrence 
that  it  colored  the  whole  day.  After  mature 
deliberation  the  teacher  decided  not  to  allow  this 
mental  disquiet  in  herself.  She  resolved  to  stop 
thinking  the  discordant  or  angry  thoughts,  how- 
ever slight  they  might  be. 

The  opportunity  to  put  her  resolution  into  effect 


A   STORY   AND   ITS   LESSON  229 

came  very  soon  after  it  was  made.  The  assistant 
said  something  which  irritated  her.  Affairs  in 
the  room  were  in  such  a  condition  that  she  could 
sit  at  one  of  the  desks  and  labor  with  herself  in 
the  attempt  to  stop  her  own  discordant  thinking. 
During  the  effort  she  did  not  try  in  any  way  to 
influence  the  assistant;  indeed,  she  did  not  once 
think  of  doing  so.  Her  attempt  was  to  change 
her  own  mental  condition  and  to  cleanse  her  own 
mind  of  all  discordant  thinking.  Her  work  was 
with  herself  alone. 

She  found  that  it  required  more  effort  and 
occupied  a  longer  time  than  she  had  anticipated, 
but  this  only  intensified  her  determination  to  set 
herself  right.  After  a  while  she  experienced  the 
pleasure  of  success.  The  discordant  thoughts 
all  disappeared  and  harmonious  ones  took  their 
places.  A  delightful  revulsion  of  feeling  followed. 
A  harmonious  glow  filled  her  whole  being,  and 
she  rejoiced  that  she  had  triumphed  over  her  own 
discordant  thinking. 

She  sat  in  her  place  a  little  longer  in  order  more 
firmly  to  establish  her  present  mental  condition 
and  to  fortify  herself  against  a  return  of  the  dis- 
cordant thinking,  as  well  as  to  enjoy  the  pleasure 
of     her     present     satisfaction,     when     something 


230  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

occurred  which  greatly  surprised  her.  The  assist- 
ant came  and  sat  down  beside  her,  took  her  hand 
in  a  half-caressing  way  as  it  lay  upon  the  desk, 
and,  in  a  tone  of  voice  which  she  had  never  recog- 
nized from  her  before,  asked  about  something 
which  was  going  on  in  the  schoolroom.  The 
discord  had  also  ceased  in  the  assistant's  mind, 
and  harmony  had  taken  its  place.  The  division 
between  them  was  healed. 

Seemingly  this  was  a  little  incident,  but  it  is 
important  because  it  illustrates  an  important  prin- 
ciple of  mental  action  which  is  always  at  work 
between  people  who  are  thrown  into  close  rela- 
tionship with  each  other.  By  her  earnest  work 
with  herself  to  stop  her  own  discordant  thinking, 
the  teacher  had  changed  the  condition  of  her  own 
mind,  and,  without  any  intention  or  even  thought 
about  it  on  her  own  part,  this  change  had  so 
affected  the  assistant  as  to  work  a  mental  revolu- 
tion in  her  mind  also.  The  close  relationship 
between  minds  is  such  that  when  the  teacher  had 
recovered  her  own  mental  poise  the  assistant, 
without  conscious  thought  or  intention,  regained 
hers    also.1     Such    is   the   effect   of   banishing   dis- 

1  "Through  waves  of  an  atmosphere  unseen  by  the  physical  eye, 
the  sound  of  the  church  bell  is  conveyed  to  our  ears.    Through  the 


A   STORY   AND   ITS   LESSON  23 1 

cordant  thoughts  from  one's  own  mind  and  intro- 
ducing positive  and  harmonious  ones  in  their 
places. 

The  old  saying  that  it  takes  two  to  quarrel  is 
true,  and  it  is  equally  true  that  the  mental  rela- 
tionship between  man  and  man  is  such  that  it 
takes  two  to  be  angry.  If  one  of  the  angry  parties 
ejects  all  discordant  thinking  from  himself  and 
waits  without  impatience  or  any  other  kind  of 
discordant  thinking,  the  anger  of  the  other  one 
must  stop  of  itself.     It  has  nothing  to  feed  upon. 

In  the  case  of  the  teacher  and  her  assistant  it 
is  certain  that  there  was  discordant  thinking; 
perhaps  at  first  it  was  only  on  the  part  of  one  (it 
is  of  no  consequence  which),  but  it  communicated 
itself  to  the  other,  increasing  as  time  went  on,  and 
it  continued  until  one  of  them  assumed  positively 
the  right  mental  attitude  for  herself,  and  then  it 
ceased  with  the  other. 

This  incident  suggests  the  course  to  be  pursued 
in  all  misunderstandings  or  quarrels.  The  one 
who   recognizes   the   situation   should   at   once   set 

vibrations  of  an  ether  which  the  finest  instrument  cannot  discern, 
the  light  from  distant  stars  is  brought  to  our  organs  of  vision.  Is 
it  more  wonderful  to  believe  that  through  an  unseen  medium  of 
mind  we  are  sending  rays  of  silent  influence  into  the  lives  of 
others?"  —  Loren  B.  McDonald  in  Guarding  the  Thoughts,  p.  17. 


232  RIGHT    AND   WRONG    THINKING 

his  own  mind  at  peace,  sweeping  it  clear  of  all 
discordant  thoughts  concerning  the  attendant 
actions  and  conditions,  regardless  of  their  charac- 
ter and  without  any  question  of  how  or  where  they 
originated  or  who  was  to  blame;  this  done,  he 
should  in  every  particular  keep  his  mind  in  a  con- 
dition of  perfect  harmony  toward  the  other  —  and 
wait.  Waiting  will  do  the  rest.  "They  also  serve 
who  only  stand  and  wait;"  and  especially  is  this 
the  case  if,  in  addition  to  the  waiting,  they  main- 
tain the  right  mental  condition. 

Unless  it  comes  about  naturally  and  without 
effort  there  should  not  be  any  verbal  attempt  at 
reconciliation.  Very  often  the  best-intentioned 
predetermined  efforts  of  this  kind  fail  of  success. 
Complete  control  of  one's  own  mind  in  such  cases 
will  never  fail.  This  does  not  mean  that  when 
one  finds  he  has  done  wrong,  he  must  not  say  so 
to  the  one  he  has  wronged;  but  even  this  is  not 
advisable  until  the  confession  can  be  made  with- 
out the  slightest  discordant  stir  in  himself.  Dis- 
cord in  one  person  rouses  it  in  another,  and  even 
allusion  to  the  subject  which  has  once  caused 
inharmony  may  arouse  it  again. 

It  should  be  expressly  noted  that  in  the  case 
just  cited  the  teacher  did  not  do  the  work  in  her- 


1 1  N 


A   STORY   AND   ITS    LESSON  233 

self  for  the  purpose  of  affecting  the  assistant,  nor 
for  any  other  but  the  one  sole  object  of  making 
herself  right.  This  mental  attitude  is  of  first  im- 
portance. To  purify  one's  own  self  for  the  sake 
of  purifying  others  is  commendable,  but  it  is  not 
so  praiseworthy  as  when  undertaken  with  the  single 
object  of  correcting  one's  own  faults.  It  will 
then  better  affect  and  assist  others  than  if  it  were 
undertaken  for  that  object.  It  is  only  with  one's 
own  self  that  one  has  to  deal  —  never  interfering 
with  another  unless  assistance  is  asked. 

When  there  has  been  anger  between  two 
people,  for  one  of  them  to  undertake  by  word  or 
deed  to  set  the  other  right  would  frustrate  all  the 
good  intentions  in  the  world  unless  the  one  who 
attempts  it  has  already  first  completely  accom- 
plished it  in  himself.  Even  then  success  may  be 
very  doubtful.  Indeed,  just  here  is  where  grave 
mistakes  are  often  made  in  trying  to  solve  any  social 
problem.  Every  person  is  prone  to  lay  the  blame 
on  another  and  then  to  try  to  make  that  other  one 
right  instead  of  turning  his  whole  attention  to 
correcting  the  error  in  himself.  Correction  of  the 
other  person  by  one  of  the  parties  to  a  quarrel 
is  impossible  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  and  espe- 
cially is  this  true  when  the  discordant  thought  of 


234  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

condemnation  exists  in  the  mind  of  the  one  who 
makes  the   attempt. 

Epictetus  was  right  when  he  declared:  "How- 
ever he  treats  me,  I  am  to  act  rightly  with  regard 
to  him ;  for  the  one  is  my  own  concern,  the  other  is 
not."  Acting  and  thinking  are  so  closely  allied  that 
this  rule  applies  as  much  to  the  one  as  to  the  other. 
It  is  a  maxim  of  the  soundest  philosophy  that 
nothing  another  does  can  ever  make  it  right  for 
me  to  do  wrong,  because  wrong  is  never  right,  and 
no  combination  of  circumstances  can  ever  make 
it  so. 

When  the  teacher  had  removed  the  discord 
from  her  own  mind,  she  discovered  that  it  had 
disappeared  from  the  assistant's  also.  Had  she 
attempted  to  correct  the  assistant's  error  instead 
of  correcting  her  own,  the  discord  might  never  have 
been  healed.  Although  the  assistant's  action  was 
set  in  motion  by  what  the  teacher  did,  yet  the 
assistant's  thinking  and  acting  were  her  own  and 
not  the  teacher's.  Another's  thoughts  become 
our  own  only  when  we  accept  them  as  ours.  Ref- 
ormation is  at  last  one's  own  work. 

In  fact,  as  seen  in  the  principle  set  forth  in  these 
pages,  each  can  reform  only  one  person  in  the  world, 
and  that  one  is  himself.     However  much  the  sug- 


A   STORY   AND   ITS   LESSON  235 

gestion  to  reform  may  come  from  another,  yet 
all  reformation  is  essentially  self-reformation, 
because  all  thinking  is  one's  own  thinking,  and 
thinking  is  the  causative  power.  This  does  not 
exclude  assisting  some  one  else  when  assistance 
is  asked  for,  nor  does  it  prohibit  extending  all 
good  feeling  and  brotherly  love  to  others.  Indeed, 
the  underlying  principle  requires  this,  because 
otherwise  one's  own  mind  cannot  be  in  a  harmo- 
nious condition;  but  the  work  is,  after  all,  one's 
own  work  with  one's  own  self.  When  he  has  cast 
out  the  beam  from  his  own  eye,  then  shall  he  see 
clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  from  his  brother's  eye ; 
but  in  the  process  of  removing  the  beam  he  will 
most  probably  have  effected  the  removal  of  the 
mote  also,  and  therefore  he  shall  then  see  that  there 
is  nothing  to  be  removed  from  the  eye  of  his  brother. 


XXXII 
THE  STORY  OF  A  CONTRACT 

A  man  whom  we  will  call  Smith  because  that 
is  not  his  name  had  a  contract  with  a  carpenter 
to  build  a  house.  When  the  work  was  about  half 
done,  the  carpenter  came  and  said  that  he  was  in 
distress  because  of  certain  financial  obligations 
which  were  about  to  mature,  and  that  he  would 
be  greatly  accommodated  if  he  could  have  imme- 
diately all  the  money  that  would  be  due  him  when 
the  house  should  be  completed.  Smith  had  the 
money  in  the  bank  and  gave  it  to  him.  All  went 
well  until  the  house  was  very  nearly  done.  Then 
the  carpenter  left  it  and  went  to  other  work,  much 
to   Smith's    disadvantage. 

Several  weeks  passed,  and,  as  there  was  no  indi- 
cation that  anything  further  would  be  done  on 
the  house,  Smith  sent  to  the  carpenter  and  asked 
when  he  was  going  to  finish  his  work.  The  reply 
came  back  that  he  had  done  all  he  intended  to  do 
on  the  house  and,  besides,  he  was  too  mad  to  talk 

236 


THE   STORY   OF   A   CONTRACT  237 

about  it;  whereupon  Smith  got  angry,  too,  but 
upon  consideration  he  decided  to  make  a  practical 
test  of  the  principles  which  were  so  successfully 
followed  by  the  teacher.  He  put  out  of  himself 
all  anger  and  condemnation  of  the  carpenter,  as 
well  as  all  other  discordant  thoughts,  so  that  he 
was  able  without  mental  discord  to  review  the 
whole  transaction,  his  favor  to  the  carpenter,  the 
disadvantage  of  the  delay,  and  even  the  rudeness 
of  the  reply  to  his  inquiry.  Then  he  went  to  see 
the  carpenter.  When  he  met  him  and  saw  the 
muscles  of  his  face  stiffen  and  his  whole  counte- 
nance harden  as  he  looked  up,  even  that  did  not 
rouse  any  discordant  thinking  in  Smith's  mind, 
so  thoroughly  was  he  under  the  right  mental  con- 
trol. They  immediately  began  talking  about  the 
unfinished  work,  and  in  less  than  ten  minutes  the 
carpenter,  without  being  requested  to  do  so,  offered 
to  go  back  and  finish  his  job.  Smith  told  him  that 
he  might  send  one  of  his  workmen,  but  he  insisted 
on  going  himself.  The  carpenter  went  and  did 
all  the  work  required,  including  some  extras  which 
he  cheerfully  declined  to  accept  pay  for. 

The  effective  consideration  in  this  case  was  the 
successful  effort  that  Smith  made  to  clear  his  own 
mind  from  discord.     As  in  the  case  of  the  teacher, 


2$  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

here  was  also  an  entire  absence  of  any  attempt 
to  influence  the  carpenter  by  any  mental  means 
whatsoever.  No  one's  rights  were  assailed  or 
interfered  with  in  the  slightest.  There  was  noth- 
ing concealed  or  underhanded.  There  was  no 
compulsion  or  attempt  at  compulsion.  All  the 
influence  Smith  exercised  over  the  carpenter  was 
in  a  fair,  face-to-face,  open  conversation,  with  only 
harmony  in  his  own  mind  behind  his  words.  The 
result  was  much  pleasanter  and  far  more  success- 
ful than  any  attempt  at  compulsion  could  have 
been.  Indeed,  any  such  attempt,  accompanied 
as  it  would  have  been  by  recrimination  and  angry 
words,  would  have  intensified  the  carpenter's 
feelings  and  defeated  Smith's  object.  Where 
anger  has  ruled,  expensive  lawsuits  have  grown 
out  of  incidents  of  far  less  importance.  It  was 
much  cheaper  than  a  lawsuit  would  have  been  in 
the  expenditure  of  both  money  and  energy  of  every 
kind,  to  say  nothing  of  the  long  train  of  evils  aris- 
ing from  hostile  feelings.  Nothing  is  necessary 
in  a  dispute  except  that  one  of  the  parties  shall 
put  away  all  discordant  thinking. 

Perhaps  some  one  may  claim  inability  to  do  as 
Smith  did  under  such  conditions,  and  that  may 
be  true ;    but  every  one  can  do  it  on  occasions  of 


THE   STORY  OF  A  CONTRACT  239 

less  importance;  and  if  he  does  not  let  any  inci- 
dent slip,  but  accomplishes  the  exclusion  of  his 
discordant  thinking  in  each  one  of  the  smaller 
affairs,  he  will  soon  be  able  to  do  the  same  thing 
in  the  gravest  and  most  important  situations.  As 
an  illustration  of  how  business  may  be  conducted 
successfully,  this  incident  has  its  lesson.  If  this 
plan  were  followed  by  everybody,  one  large  and 
important  class  in  the  community  would  change 
its  occupation  for  a  more  productive  one. 

The  same  principle  is  illustrated  in  a  dispute 
which  occurred  over  the  boundary  line  between 
two  pieces  of  property.  The  owner  of  one  piece 
claimed  that  the  fence  was  in  the  wrong  place  and 
should  be  removed  so  as  to  include  in  his  own 
tract  quite  a  strip  of  the  land  of  his  neighbor. 
Angry  feelings  and  discordant  thinking  resulted. 
A  lawsuit  grew  out  of  it  and  dragged  along  for 
years.  Each  asserted  that  he  cared  very  little 
for  the  land,  but  insisted  he  was  contending  for  a 
principle.  The  quarrel  grew  and  prospered  with 
small  prospect  of  settlement  until  one  of  the  parties 
was  tired  out  and  sold  his  land  to  get  rid  of  the 
difficulties. 

The  purchaser  was  the  very  reverse  of  quarrel- 
some, and  all  who  knew  the  circumstances  won- 


240  RIGHT   AND  WRONG    THINKING 

dered  that  he  had  bought  property  encumbered 
with  a  lawsuit.  His  action  showed  his  wisdom. 
At  the  first  favorable  opportunity  he  approached 
the  claimant  and  after  a  few  pleasant  words  asked 
him  where  he  believed  the  fence  ought  to  be.  The 
claimant  pointed  out  the  place  very  carefully. 
When  this  had  been  definitely  fixed,  the  new  owner 
said:  "If  you  will  move  the  fence  to  that  place,  I 
will  pay  half  the  expense  of  the  removal,  since  it 
is  a  line  fence."  The  claimant  was  surprised. 
He  had  been  met  by  a  man  who  had  only  harmony 
in  his  heart  and  was  overcome  by  it.  The  fence 
continues  to  stand  in  its  old  place,  the  lawsuit  is 
dismissed,  and  the  two  men  are  fast  friends. 

Such  is  the  power  of  non-resistance  when  com- 
bined, as  it  always  should  be,  with  harmonious 
mental  conditions  in  the  mind  of  one  of  the  parties 
to  a  quarrel. 


XXXIII 

THE  STORY  OF  A  NOTE 

A  gentleman  borrowed  five  hundred  dollars 
of  a  widow,  giving  his  note.  Soon  afterward  her 
eldest  son  got  into  trouble  of  such  a  kind  that 
the  penitentiary  was  in  prospect  for  him.  The 
borrower  investigated  the  situation,  and  found 
that  the  young  man  had  done  wrong,  but  that  the 
action  was  without  criminal  intention.  Older  and 
designing  persons  had  taken  advantage  of  his 
inexperience  and  had  made  him  a  tool  for  the 
execution  of  their  own  illegal  purposes.  The 
borrower  used  his  influence  in  the  proper  way, 
saved  the  young  man  from  disaster,  and  set  him 
on  his  feet.  Warned  and  instructed  by  this  expe- 
rience, he  made  a  man  of  himself.  Not  very  long 
afterward  the  second  son  of  the  widow  fell  into 
serious,  though  not  so  grave,  difficulties,  and  the 
borrower  extricated  him  also  from  his  dilemma. 
In  the  meantime  the  note  was  not  paid  because 
the  man  was  not  able,  and,  too,  although  he  had 
not  made  any  claim  for  it,  he  thought  that  he 
241 


242  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

ought  to  have  some  consideration  for  his  services 
to  the  two  sons. 

After  a  few  years  the  widow  died.  Now  there 
must  be  a  settlement;  but  the  borrower  hoped 
the  son  who  had  been  so  efficiently  befriended 
would  be  made  administrator  of  the  estate.  In- 
stead, a  son-in-law  was  appointed,  a  man  who, 
though  successful  in  business,  had  the  reputation 
of  not  being  very  particular  as  to  the  methods  by 
which  he  attained  success.  This  did  not  indicate 
leniency  about  the  payment  of  the  note,  but  the 
borrower  allowed  things  to  drift  without  any  action 
until  the  legal  time  for  the  settlement  of  the  estate 
had  nearly  expired.  He  then  began  to  think 
that  the  administrator  had  decided  to  let  the  whole 
subject  drop,  when  one  day  an  officer  walked 
into  his  place  of  business  and  served  a  warrant 
on  him  for  a  thousand  dollars.  Delay  could  no 
longer  continue.  Something  must  be  done.  The 
question  was,  "What?"  The  borrower  decided 
to  begin  by  regulating  his  own  mind,  and  succeeded 
so  well  that  without  mental  discord  he  could 
think  of  all  the  incidents  and  persons  connected 
with  the  affair,  including  his  own  remissness  in  not 
attending  to  the  business  as  he  ought  to  have  done. 

A  few  days  before  the  time  to  appear  and  an- 


THE  STORY  OF  A  NOTE  243 

swer  the  warrant  he  sought  out  the  administrator 
and  told  him  that  he  had  come  to  talk  about  the 
note.  To  the  direct  questions  which  the  admin- 
istrator asked  he  responded  frankly  that  he  made 
the  note  in  good  faith,  that  the  signature  was  his 
own,  that  he  received  the  money  at  the  time  he 
gave  the  note,  and  that  he  had  not  paid  anything, 
not  even  the  interest.  Of  course,  such  admissions 
to  the  administrator  would  ruin  his  case  in  any 
court.  He  then  said  that  he  thought  two  men  of 
average  intelligence  who  wanted  nothing  but  what 
was  right  could  themselves  settle  such  a  question 
as  this  without  the  intervention  of  the  law.  He 
maintained  his  own  harmonious  frame  of  mind 
while  he  told  the  administrator  the  whole  story, 
and  then  the  subject  was  discussed  between  them. 
The  result  was  that  at  the  end  of  an  amicable 
conference  of  half  an  hour,  without  any  sugges- 
tion or  request  from  the  borrower,  the  adminis- 
trator offered  to  "call  the  whole  thing  square" 
without  the  payment  of  any  money. 

Avoidance  of  discordant  thinking  is  of  immense 
and  direct  importance,  and  even  of  money  value, 
in  business  transactions;  and  yet  all  this  is  only 
controlling  the  mental  action  so  as  to  keep  it  within 
the  lines  indicated  by  principle. 


XXXIV 

A   DISCUSSION   OF  THE   STORIES 

These  incidents,  which  are  absolutely  true, 
are  a  practical  demonstration  of  the  importance 
of  thought  control  in  all  social  and  business  affairs, 
and  they  also  show  what  may  result  from  main- 
taining one's  own  mind  in  harmonious  conditions, 
keeping  it  as  closely  as  possible  in  the  exact  and 
perhaps  seemingly  narrow  way  of  undoubted  and 
unquestionable  right  without  any  attempt  either 
directly  or  indirectly  to  influence  any  one  else. 
They  are  illustrations  of  the  action  of  a  power 
which,  though  not  always  recognized,  is  constantly 
operating  among  men;  and  they  show  why  some 
persons  utterly  fail  in  their  attempts,  while  yet 
others  hinder  and  even  pervert  their  own  efforts. 
This  power  lies  in  the  ability  to  control  mental 
conditions  and  to  establish  the  right  mental  state 
in  one's  own  mind.  This  state,  once  established 
and  maintained,  works  effectually  toward  the 
accomplishment  of  right  results  in  one's  own  self 
244 


A   DISCUSSION   OF   THE   STORIES  245 

and  in  others,  and  does  this  without  any  conscious 
effort  of  the  person. 

The  really  efficient  work  for  others  must  follow 
work  with  one's  own  self.  Without  that  all  else 
fails.  In  neither  of  these  cases  cited  did  the  one 
most  interested  attempt  by  any  mental  procedure, 
either  surreptitious  or  otherwise,  to  influence  the 
mind  or  actions  of  the  other.  In  each  case  it  was 
a  frank,  open,  face-to-face  transaction.  To  have 
done  otherwise  would  have  been  specially  repre- 
hensible, and  such  a  course  would  bear  the  same 
relation  to  rightful  mental  action  that  stealing  does 
to  legitimate  financial  transactions. 

It  is  only  a  step  from  attempting  to  influence 
another  mentally  and  in  the  right  direction,  but 
without  his  knowledge,  to  the  attempt  to  influence 
him  in  doubtful  or  wrong  ways.  After  all,  who 
shall  say  that  his  own  idea  of  right  is  absolutely 
without  flaw,  or  even  what  is  advisable  or  best 
for  another?  Can  one  always  decide  these  ques- 
tions for  one's  self?  How  much  less,  then,  for 
another,  especially  when  the  most  sincere  and 
earnest  convictions  of  the  wisest  men  so  contradict 
one  another !  And  how  shall  one  know  what 
another  wishes  unless  the  wish  is  expressed? 
Secretly   to   influence   another   against   his   wishes 


246  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

is  to  dominate  him.  Far  too  often  has  this  under- 
handed action  been  used  to  gain  one's  own  purpose ; 
and  yet,  many  times,  this  has  been  done  with  the 
sincere  conviction  that  it  was  a  kindness  or  a  duty 
and  therefore  was  right  and  just  and  even  praise- 
worthy.    How  wisely  did  Burns  sing:  — 

"  When  self  the  wavering  balance  shakes 
Tis  rarely  right  adjusted." 

The  thug  of  India  not  only  believes  he  is  right 
in  strangling  his  victim,  but  he  also  believes,  as 
sincerely  and  earnestly  as  any  one  else  believes 
the  contrary,  that  it  is  his  religious  duty  and  that 
his  action  will  result  in  an  immense  advantage 
to  the  one  he  strangles.  He  is  as  sincere  in  this 
as  most  Christians  are  in  their  belief  about  what 
they  ought  to  do  for  others,  or  even  in  their  belief 
that  what  the  thug  does  is  wrong.  Equally  sin- 
cere are  most  of  those  who  attempt  secret  mental 
influence.  But  the  belief  that  they  are  right  does 
not  make  them  so.  Right  is  right,  whatever  may 
be  the  opinion  of  any  one  about  it;  and  however 
conscientious  one  may  be  in  an  erroneous  opinion, 
that  conscientiousness  does  not  make  that  opinion 
right. 

There  is  only  one  thing  either  necessary  or 
advisable,  and  that  is  to  set  one's  own  mind  in  order, 


A  DISCUSSION  OF  THE  STORIES  247 

making  it  right  according  as  one  sees  the  right, 
and  then  to  leave  the  rest  to  the  unrecognized  but 
sure  working  of  correct  principles;  remembering, 
of  course,  that  this  does  not  exclude  a  frank,  open 
discussion  of  the  differences  after  discord  has  been 
dismissed  from  the  mind. 

These  incidents  show  the  errors  contained  in 
two  widely  accepted  opinions  of  humanity,  and 
an  understanding  of  these  errors  will  greatly  assist 
him  who  is  striving  for  mental  self-control. 

The  first  is  the  almost  universal  tendency  to 
lay  the  blame  for  one's  failures  or  mistakes  at 
the  door  of  some  other  person  or  to  charge  it  to 
the  influence  of  one's  surroundings.  The  Edenic 
plea  of  both  Adam  and  Eve  —  Adam  because  of 
Eve,  Eve  because  of  the  serpent  (the  serpent  was 
not  asked  to  speak  for  himself)  —  has  availed  to 
satisfy  both  men  and  women  ever  since  the  earliest 
dawn  of  history;  but  it  has  not  yet  availed,  nor 
will  it  ever  avail,  to  avert  the  natural  consequences 
of  one's  own  acts. 

Often  it  is  enough  to  silence  the  average  man's 
conscience  when  he  thinks  that  he  would  not  have 
committed  the  offence  if  it  had  not  been  for  attend- 
ant circumstances.  It  is  thought  excuse  enough 
for  breaking  an  engagement  to  plead  bad  weather; 


248  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

anything  or  everything  outside  the  person,  trivial 
or  important,  is  sufficient  excuse  to  justify  any 
failure,  any  neglect,  and  very  often  even  an  overt 
act.  Though  all  this  is  wrong,  yet  every  one  is 
accustomed  to  these  excuses,  and  most  of  us  have 
used  them  in  the  attempt  to  satisfy  our  own  com- 
punctions and  to  effect  an  escape  from  difficulties 
which  we  have  ourselves  brought  upon  our  own 
heads. 

It  is  the  mental  condition  that  produces  the 
action  in  every  case,  and  each  person  is  responsible 
for  his  own  mental  condition.  Between  the  exter- 
nal circumstance  and  our  action  is  always  our 
own  thinking,  and  it  is  that  thinking  and  not  the 
external  circumstance  or  condition  which  decides 
what  our  action  shall  be.  If  Eve's  thinking 
about  the  tree  and  its  fruit  had  been  different,  — 
that  is,  if  she  had  come  to  some  different  conclu- 
sion about  the  questions  presented  in  that  connec- 
tion, —  her  action  would  have  been  different.  The 
same  is  also  true  of  Adam.  It  was  not  the  ser- 
pent and  it  was  not  the  presence  and  character 
of  the  tree,  —  though  each  had  a  part  in  the  course 
of  events,  —  but  it  was  their  own  final  mental  con- 
clusion, which  decided  what  their  action  should  be. 
That   mental   conclusion  was   their  own,  and   not 


A   DISCUSSION  OF  THE  STORIES  249 

another's,  and,  therefore,  no  one  else  but  them- 
selves was  responsible  for  their  actions.  Thus 
it  has  always  been  with  every  Eve  and  every 
Adam.  Whether  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  is 
accepted  as  veritable  history  or  considered  as  a 
fable,  it  admirably  illustrates  a  nearly  universal 
defect  of  humanity. 

For  the  man  who  owed  the  note,  a  lawsuit  with 
the  prospect  of  its  attendant  evils  was  all  ready 
to  his  hand.  The  same  was  impending  over  Smith 
and  the  contractor.  Had  either  Smith  or  the 
man  who  owed  the  note  failed  to  control  his  think- 
ing, he  might  have  said:  "I  was  not  responsible 
for  this  trouble.  Others  began  it."  In  both 
cases  the  events  as  they  transpired  show  that  each 
would  have  been  himself  responsible,  because  it 
was  clearly  in  his  power  to  avert  the  disaster. 
Every  man  claims  praise  for  the  good  result  as 
the  consequence  of  his  right  action.  On  the  same 
basis,  how  can  he  avoid  blame  if,  by  his  own  erro- 
neous thinking,  he  increases  the  difficulty  and 
brings  about  evil  results? 

This  leads  to  the  consideration  of  a  second  mis- 
taken but  very  prevalent  opinion,  and  it  also  leads 
to  an  understanding  of  the  erroneous  actions 
consequent  upon  that  opinion. 


250  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

A  large  part  of  mankind  are  zealously  striving 
to  reform  all  the  rest  of  the  world  except  them- 
selves. Every  one  sees  how  another  ought  to 
conduct  himself,  and  each  is  doing  his  best  to 
effect  the  desired  reformation  in  his  neighbor, 
because  he  believes  with  the  good  old  Quaker, 
"All  the  world  is  queer  except  thee  and  me,  and 
thee  is  a  little  queer."  We  have  reformers  on 
all  sides  trying  to  persuade  men  to  avoid  every 
evil  that  afflicts  mankind;  and  we  have  govern- 
ments with  courts  of  justice  and  prisons  attempt- 
ing forcibly  to  prevent  men  from  doing  wrong  or 
to  compel  them  to  do  right.  All  these  means  and 
measures  no  doubt  accomplish  much  good,  at 
least  as  educators;  and  the  motive  behind  them 
all  is  excellent. 

In  point  of  fact,  however,  no  one  can  reform 
another,  although  each  can  reform  himself,  and 
by  that  reformation  may  so  influence  others  that 
they  will  also  reform  themselves.  The  reforma- 
tion at  last  is  one's  own  work  done  by  one's  own 
self.  Of  course  there  may  be  and  ought  to  be 
wise  suggestions,  assistance,  encouragement,  advice, 
counsel,  thus  giving  much  help  to  others  in  a 
multitude  of  ways  whenever  it  is  desired;  but, 
notwithstanding  all,   the  essential  and  only  really 


A  DISCUSSION  OF  THE  STORIES  25 1 

vital  and  effective  work  must  be  done  by  one's 
own  self.  This  is  because  thinking  is  the  funda- 
mental act  without  which  nothing  can  be  accom- 
plished, and  one  cannot  think  with  another's  mind 
any  more  than  he  can  see  with  another's  eyes. 

The  teacher  might  have  remonstrated  with  her 
assistant,  but  probably  it  would  have  had  no  result 
except  to  antagonize  and  irritate  her  and  intensify 
the  already  troublesome  conditions.  Without  any 
attempt  whatever  in  that  direction  the  effort  of  the 
teacher  to  reform  herself  wrought  wonders  in  the 
reformation  of  her  assistant. 

The  contractor  was  manifestly  blameworthy 
because  he  had  not  done  all  that  he  had  agreed 
to  do,  and  he  surely  needed  reforming.  The 
owner  of  the  property  by  due  process  of  law  might 
have  compelled  him  to  complete  the  work,  but 
there  would  not  have  been  any  reformative  result 
from  that  action.  In  any  attempt  to  enforce 
reform  upon  the  contractor  the  result  attained 
through  the  self-reformation  of  the  property  owner 
would  have  been  lost,  and  in  the  end  both  would 
have  been  worse  off  mentally  and  morally. 

In  the  case  of  the  note  it  is  true  that  payment 
might  have  been  avoided  by  some  legal  process, 
questionable   or  otherwise;    but  that   would   have 


252  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

produced  various  and  serious  discordant  condi- 
tions for  all  concerned,  and  probably  it  would 
have  resulted  in  very  serious  injury  to  the  bor- 
rower. All  these  probabilities  are  in  sharp  and 
unfavorable  contrast  with  the  harmonious  results 
which  followed  the  borrower's  reformation  of  him- 
self. 

The  fact  is  clearly  apparent  in  these  and  multi- 
tudes of  other  incidents  that,  whether  we  intend 
it  or  not,  our  unspoken  thoughts  influence  those 
with  whom  we  come  in  contact;  and  this  pre- 
sents the  control  of  our  thinking  in  a  new  aspect 
and  gives  it  an  immensely  increased  value  when 
considered  in  connection  with  our  relationship 
to  our  fellows.  Max  Miiller  said:  "The  only 
thing  of  consequence,  to  my  mind,  is  what  we 
think,  what  we  know,  what  we  believe." 

Herein  is  the  secret  of  the  immense  influence 
of  good  lives.  As  has  been  shown  so  clearly,  the 
kind  of  life  one  lives  is  the  product  of  the  kind  of 
thinking  one  does,  and  the  good  thinking  sheds 
itself  abroad  upon  others  as  the  sun  radiates  light, 
without  any  intention  or  effort.  Therefore  Jesus 
said:  "Let  your  light  shine."  He  did  not  say; 
"Make  it  shine."  Leave  the  light  alone,  but 
have   it,  and   it  will   shine   of   itself.     Interference 


A   DISCUSSION   OF   THE   STORIES  253 

and  assistance  often  hinder.  The  very  best  one 
can  do  is  to  be.  The  measure  of  the  influence  of  a 
man,  whether  preacher  or  layman,  is  found  in  what 
he  is  rather  than  in  what  he  says;  perhaps  least 
of  all  in  what  he  intends. 

This  explains  one  great  secret  of  the  tremen- 
dous power  and  permanence  of  the  influence  of 
Jesus,  the  Christ,  who  not  only  taught  and  did 
right,  living  the  right  life,  but  who  also  —  the  under- 
lying cause  of  all  —  thought  right.  The  results 
which  came  to  him  will  also  come  to  us  in  propor- 
tion as  we  keep  ourselves  right. 

The  opinion  has  generally  been  held  that  a 
person  has  the  right  to  think  what  he  pleases,  but 
this  is  not  correct.  In  one  sense  a  man's  thoughts 
are  not  his  own  any  more  than  are  his  words 
when  once  uttered.  We  know  the  word  from  the 
speaker  goes  out  to  bless  or  to  curse,  and  recall 
is  impossible.  It  is  the  same  with  the  thought 
also.  As  he  should  not  have  uttered  the  wrong 
word,  so  he  ought  not  to  have  allowed  the  existence 
of  the  wrong  thought. 

In  point  of  fact  every  thought,  whatever  its 
character  may  be,  produces  its  definite  result, 
not  only  whether  we  will  or  not,  but  in  spite  of  the 
will  we  may  exercise  to  prevent  it.     "Then  every 


254  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

thought  of  disease,  every  imagination  of  fear  or 
distrust  or  gloomy  foreboding,  would  scatter,  and, 
like  contagion,  depress  the  lives  of  others.  Then 
every  sentiment  of  hate  would  have  in  it  a  little 
of  the  real  effect  of  murder,  every  harsh  judgment 
would  carry  a  vital  effect  of  ill.  Every  thought 
of  doubt  or  despair  would  make  it  harder  for  others 
to  bear  their  burdens  and  believe  in  the  infinite 
good."1 

This  is  a  dark  side  of  the  picture,  but  it  is  not 
overdrawn.  A  man  is  indeed  responsible  for  his 
speech  and  his  acts;  he  is  also  equally  responsible 
for  the  thoughts  which  cause  them,  and  he  should 
guard  his  thoughts  even  more  carefully  than  he  does 
his  acts.  But  there  is  a  bright  side  also.  A  man 
can  control  his  thinking  much  more  easily  than  he 
can  his  speaking  and  acting  when  his  thinking  is 
not  first  controlled.  Better  still,  he  can  control  that 
thinking  in  the  right  direction,  and  when  this  is 
done,  its  consequences  are  so  controlled  that  they 
need  no  attention  whatever,  and  there  is  no  further 
responsibility  nor  danger. 

1  L.  B.  McDonald  in  Guarding  the  Thoughts. 


XXXV 
SENSITIVENESS 

Sensitiveness  is  the  tendency  or  disposition  to 
be  easily  affected  by  external  objects,  events,  or 
conditions.  We  say  that  a  person  is  sensitive  who 
is  so  delicately  constituted  that  he  is  keenly  suscepti- 
ble of  external  influences  or  impressions,  is  easily 
affected  or  moved  by  outward  circumstances,  and 
responds  quickly  to  very  slight  changes  of  condition. 
Though  so  often  misunderstood  and  condemned, 
it  is  one  of  man's  greatest  blessings.  The  peculiar 
sensitiveness  of  the  optic  nerve  gives  sight.  De- 
ficient sensitiveness  of  that  nerve  causes  imperfect 
sight;  entire  lack  of  it  is  blindness.  The  greater 
its  sensitiveness,  the  better  the  sight  and  the  more 
we  may  see,  and  know,  and  understand,  if  we  will 
only  use  it  as  we  should;  that  is,  if  the  perception 
is  followed  by  the  right  kind  of  thinking.  This  is 
true  of  every  perception. 

Superiority  in  any  sphere  is  unattainable  without 
that  sensitiveness  which  confers  larger  knowledge 

255 


256  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

and  understanding.  There  is  much  discussion 
about  what  constitutes  genius;  at  least  one  element 
without  which  it  cannot  exist  is  an  extreme  degree 
of  this  very  sensitiveness,  and  the  degree  of  sensi- 
tiveness often  determines  the  degree  of  genius. 

It  is  this  characteristic  which  enables  the  musician 
to  perceive  shades  of  tone  which  another  cannot 
hear.  It  gives  him  information  essential  to  the 
execution  of  delicate  musical  passages  impossible 
to  others  who  do  not  possess  the  quality  in  the  same 
degree;  and  in  directing  an  orchestra  or  a  chorus 
it  is  this  which  enables  him  to  perceive  advantages 
and  defects  which  would  pass  unnoticed  by  one  less 
favored.  This  keenness  of  perception  is  indispen- 
sable to  leadership.1 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  persons  who  culti- 
vate themselves  into  spasms  over  a  discord,  and,  by 
glorifying  their  suffering  as  a  mark  of  superiority, 
they  unintentionally  provoke  similar  disturbing  con- 
ditions in  their  associates.  This  agitation  is  the 
result  of  their  thinking,  and  thinking  is  entirely 
distinct  from  sensitiveness.  By  avoiding  their  in- 
harmonious thoughts  about  the  discord  they  will 

1  Theodore  Thomas  had  so  cultivated  his  sensitive  ear  that  not 
only  could  he  detect  the  slightest  discord,  but  he  could  tell  which 
one  of  the  instruments  in  his  large  orchestra  produced  it. 


SENSITIVENESS  257 

also  avoid  the  disturbance  they  create,  and  this 
may  be  accomplished  without  the  loss  of  a  single 
pleasure.  An  ear  rightly  trained  to  listen  and  to 
catch  the  slightest  variations  may  take  note  of  all 
the  imperfections,  but  they  will  never  bring  pain  if 
the  thinking  is  rightly  controlled;  and  the  more 
sensitive  the  ear,  the  greater  the  pleasure,  because 
the  mind  can  better  perceive  the  exquisite  beauties 
of  the  music,  dwell  upon  them,  and  luxuriate  in 
them. 

The  question  is  whether  the  mind  shall  be  oc- 
cupied with  the  defects  of  the  music  to  the  exclusion 
of  consciousness  of  its  beauties,  or  occupied  with 
its  beauties  to  the  exclusion  of  its  defects.  Each 
person  may  decide  for  himself  which  it  shall  be.  If 
he  chooses  discord  it  will  be  discordant  in  propor- 
tion to  the  character  and  intensity  of  his  thinking; 
if  harmony  then  harmony.  The  sensitiveness  is 
only  a  servant  to  minister  to  either  pain  or  pleasure 
at  one's  own  behest,  but  it  is  very  efficient  and  capable 
of  bestowing  immense  advantages  if  the  thinking  is 
what  it  ought  to  be.  This  is  the  condition  not  only 
in  relation  to  music  but  in  every  case  where  sensi- 
tiveness is  concerned. 

Psychologists  say  that  in  the  beginning  we  were 
not  able  to  understand  many  of  the  messages  of  the 


258  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

senses,  but  that  through  our  experience  we  have 
come  to  recognize  without  conscious  effort  the  re- 
lation to  us  of  those  things  outside  of  ourselves 
which  are  revealed  by  our  senses.  We  are  continu- 
ally educating  ourselves  in  the  various  phases  of 
sense  perception,  and  we  use  that  education  for  our 
advantage.  We  should  do  the  same  with  every 
form  of  sensitiveness,  including  all  the  more  subtle 
and  less  understood  faculties  which  minister  to  our 
consciousness. 

When  two  people  first  meet,  they  receive  impres- 
sions in  addition  to  anything  that  is  communicated 
by  the  eye,  the  ear,  or  the  clasp  of  the  hands. 
Through  means  and  in  a  way  not  clearly  under- 
stood, each  perceives  something  of  the  other  and 
recognizes  conditions  not  revealed  by  the  senses. 
There  are  a  vast  number  of  these  perceptions, 
varying  widely  in  their  manifestations  but  of  a  simi- 
lar general  character.  By  comparing,  analyzing, 
combining,  and  otherwise  examining,  we  may 
continually  cultivate  our  understanding  of  these 
just  as  we  have  done  with  our  sense  perceptions. 

The  most  important  difficulty  connected  with 
sensitiveness,  but  not  an  element  of  it,  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  mental  attitude  is  often  distorted 
by  allowing  discordant  thinking  to  follow  experiences 


SENSITIVENESS  259 

which  are  not  fully  understood.  Where  we  do  not 
fully  understand  we  too  often  let  fear  govern  us, 
and  we  look  for  evil  in  all  the  dark  places ;  instead, 
we  should  turn  on  the  light  so  that  we  may  know 
the  true  character  of  the  information  which  comes 
to  us  through  all  avenues.  Certain  of  these  per- 
ceptions are  held  by  some  to  be  "  warnings,"  and, 
if  fear  creeps  in,  the  consequent  discordant,  and  there- 
fore disastrous,  apprehensions  which  follow  fear  act 
upon  the  whole  physical  system  and  bring  a  host  of 
evils  along  with  them.  There  is  great  opportunity 
for  such  results,  because  sensitive  persons  are  more 
easily  injured  than  others  —  not  by  the  "  warnings," 
but  by  the  greater  intensity  of  their  discordant 
thinking. 

It  should  be  distinctly  noted  that  the  suffering 
commonly  attributed  to  sensitiveness  does  not  come 
from  that  source  nor  from  the  perceptions  which  it 
confers,  whatever  they  may  be,  but  it  does  come 
solely  from  the  discordant  thinking  which,  through 
lack  of  mental  control,  is  allowed  to  follow.  Be- 
cause of  this  entire  separateness  between  sensitive- 
ness and  thinking,  and  because  the  suffering  comes 
from  discordant  thinking  and  not  from  sensitiveness, 
the  most  keenly  sensitive  person  may  so  train  him- 
self that  he  can  stop  his  discordant  thinking  and  thus 


260  RIGHT    AND   WRONG    THINKING 

avoid  all  the  injurious  consequences  which  have 
been  erroneously  attributed  to  sensitiveness,  and  at 
the  same  time  he  may  retain  all  the  advantages 
which  may  be  derived  from  it  and  its  perception. 

Though  sensitiveness  is  never  an  evil  nor  a  dis- 
advantage in  itself,  yet  thousands  condemn  it, 
condemn  themselves  for  it,  and  are  condemned  by 
others  because  of  it.  Many  excuse  themselves  and 
are  excused  by  others  for  their  erroneous  conduct 
"because  they  are  so  sensitive";  and  for  the  same 
reason  still  others  are  believed  not  to  be  responsible 
for  that  which  it  is  supposed  they  cannot  avoid. 
All  this  is  wrong.  Dr.  Clifford  Allbutt  says  truly : 
"The  attributing  of  overexcitability  to  nerve 
structure  in  disease  is  absurd.  No  nervous  mat- 
ter was  ever  too  excitable.  To  be  excitable  is  its 
business.  In  overexcitability  a  race-horse  differs 
from  a  jackass.  The  more  excitable  our  nerves, 
the  quicker  and  higher  our  life."  1 

If  a  person  is  mentally  self-controlled,  the  greater 
his  sensitiveness,  the  greater  will  be  the  advantages 
which  he  will  derive  therefrom,  and  by  the  proper 
cultivation  of  his  thinking  he  may  add  largely  to 
these  advantages.  Even  that  extreme  degree  which 
seems  to  result  in  disease  is  not  an  exception,  because 

1  System  of  Medicine,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  150. 


SENSITIVENESS  26 1 

the  disease  is  the  result  of  thinking  and  not  of  sensi- 
tiveness, and  when  the  thinking  which  caused  it  is 
avoided,  the  disease  will  not  appear,  although  the 
sensitiveness  is  in  no  degree  diminished.  Control 
of  the  thinking  along  these  lines  must  be  exercised 
most  rigorously.  The  discordant  thoughts  which 
follow  any  perception  must  be  dismissed  abruptly 
and  with  a  positiveness  which  will  not  allow  their 
return.  Because  of  his  fear  the  sensitive  person 
continually  hesitates  and  often  refrains  from  doing 
important  things,  thus  directly  impairing  his  effi- 
ciency and  adding  another  kind  of  discordant  thoughts 
to  the  stock  already  on  hand.  Fear  is  not  sensitive- 
ness, though  the  results  of  fear  are  very  often  mis- 
takenly laid  at  its  door.  When  the  eye  shows  us 
a  strange  object,  we  dismiss  any  fear  which  may 
arise  and  investigate  it.  We  ought  to  do  the  same 
when  our  consciousness  of  something  new  comes 
through  any  avenue  of  perception. 

No  one  finds  fault  with  his  keen  eyes  which  enable 
him  to  see  further  or  more  minutely  than  others 
do,  though  they  may  inform  him  of  difficulties  in 
the  way.  Instead  of  finding  fault  with  the  diffi- 
culties thus  revealed,  he  rightly  prides  himself  upon 
the  possession  of  fine  eyesight  and  delights  in  all 
the  enjoyment  and  advantages  which  it  brings.     So 


262  RIGHT    AND    WRONG    THINKING 

should  each  one  congratulate  himself,  and  be  thank- 
ful for  every  avenue  of  information  which  he  pos- 
sesses. 

The  thoroughbred  horse  derives  his  valuable 
characteristics  from  his  great  sensitiveness,  which 
enables  him  to  do  many  things  that  other  horses 
cannot  do.  In  the  hands  of  an  incompetent  driver 
he  can  easily  be  ruined,  but  in  the  care  of  a  wise 
one  he  accomplishes  wonders.  The  driver  is  the 
one  to  be  blamed  for  any  disaster,  and  not  the  horse. 
Just  so  it  is  with  persons.  The  difficulty  lies  in 
their  own  lack  of  that  wisdom  which  would  enable 
them  properly  to  control  themselves.  They  allow 
their  minds  to  run  riot  in  discordant  thinking  of 
one  kind  or  another,  and  in  that  way  ruin  themselves 
and  bring  distress  to  those  around  them,  all  the 
time  erroneously  blaming  it  upon  their  sensitiveness. 

Let  no  one  mistake  for  sensitiveness  that  which 
is  born  of  selfishness,  jealousy,  envy,  or  egotism, 
for  they  have  no  connection  whatever.  The  person 
who  is  always  getting  "  hurt "  by  some  fancied 
slight,  some  lack  of  appreciation  or  attention,  should 
never  hide  behind  the  plea  of  being  sensitive,  but 
should  face  the  truth  squarely  and  recognize  that 
jealousy  and  self-love  —  not  self-respect  —  breed  the 
thoughts  which  wreck  his  happiness. 


SENSITIVENESS  263 

Sensitiveness  has  been  denounced  as  the  bane  of 
many  a  life.  It  has  been  charged  with  the  ruin 
and  death  of  untold  thousands,  and  no  one  can 
measure  the  grief  which  has  been  laid  at  its  door. 
And  yet  it  was  not  sensitiveness  that  did  all  these 
things,  but  it  was  the  discordant  and  erroneous 
thinking  which  its  possessor  allowed  to  riot  through 
his  mind.  What  has  been  supposed  to  be  a  curse  is 
really  a  blessing.  The  curse  is  to  be  found  in  some- 
thing else.  Let  each  one  dismiss  discordant  thoughts, 
emancipate  himself  from  the  condition  of  a  victim, 
and  become  a  victor,  happy  in  the  possession  of 
such  a  desirable  quality.  Use  it  wisely,  as  every 
advantage  should  be  used,  for  one's  own  benefit 
and  for  the  benefit  of  others,  and  it  will  prove  itself 
an  in  valuable  servant, 


XXXVI 

SYMPATHY 

Much  is  said  in  these  days  in  praise  of  sympathy. 
For  the  purposes  of  definiteness  and  proper  dis- 
crimination in  the  consideration  of  the  subject  it  is 
desirable  to  have  a  clear  understanding  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  and  its  necessities  and  requirements. 
Literally  it  means  feeling  identical  with  that  which 
another  feels,  and  its  meaning  includes  the  condition 
of  being  affected  by  the  feelings  or  emotions  of 
another,  whether  they  are  of  pleasure  or  of  pain. 
Such  sensitiveness  as  would  enable  one  to  perceive 
and  understand  the  conditions,  physical,  emotional, 
and  mental,  of  another  is  a  necessity  without  which 
these  results  could  not  be  attained.  This  includes 
more  than  mere  external  affairs  and  surroundings. 
There  must  not  only  be  the  ability  to  perceive  and 
understand  these,  but  also  the  ability  to  enter  quite 
thoroughly  and  accurately  into  the  whole  situation 
and  experiences  of  another ;  in  other  words,  to  put 
one's  self  exactly  in  another's  place,  see  from  his 

264 


SYMPATHY  265 

point  of  view,  and  estimate  conditions  by  his  stand- 
ard. All  helpful  sympathy  depends  from  first  to 
last  upon  a  sensitiveness  of  perception  and  feeling 
which  shall  enable  one  clearly  to  see  the  condition 
of  another,  but  with  a  self-control  which  shall  per- 
mit him  to  do  so  without  perturbation  of  spirit  or 
any  disturbed  or  disordered  thought  or  feeling. 

Next  in  order  comes  the  mental  action  which 
follows  this  recognition  of  conditions.  As  in  all 
other  events,  these  two  actions,  the  perception  of 
the  condition  and  the  thoughts  which  succeed  this 
perception,  constitute  the  two  essential  elements  of 
the  activity ;  and  it  is  as  important  that  this  mental 
action  should  be  right  as  it  is  that  the  perception 
of  conditions  should  be  correct,  because  it  is  this 
mental  action  which  causes,  guides,  and  directs 
all  that  follows.  It  is  in  consequence  of  erroneous 
action  here  that  most  serious  mistakes  are  made. 

It  is  wholly  wrong  to  allow  these  recognitions  so 
to  pervade  one's  being  and  so  to  absorb  one's  emo- 
tional nature  as  to  unfit  him  for  helpfulness,  for  the 
very  object  of  all  these  mental  conditions  is  to  equip 
us  so  that  we  may  assist  one  another.  Indeed, 
that  is  one  of  the  primal  and  important  objects  of 
life  itself,  and  whatever  hinders  or  injures  efficiency 
in  that  direction  is  most  clearly  injurious  and  wrong. 


266  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

The  sight  of  a  burn  and  one's  consciousness  of 
the  pain  it  causes  may  be  allowed  to  suggest  think- 
ing which  shall  so  fill  the  person  with  keen  and  realis- 
tic feelings  akin  to  the  anguish  of  the  sufferer  as  to 
exclude  all  else.  This  is  sympathy ;  and  it  is  made 
up  of  the  consciousness  of  the  situation,  the  mental 
actions  which  follow  that  consciousness,  and  the 
physical  feelings  which  are  caused  by  those  mental 
actions.  All  this  may  be  almost  instantaneous, 
and  so  intense  as  to  create  physical  conditions 
similar  to  those  which  were  witnessed.  This  was 
the  case  of  the  mother  who,  on  witnessing  an  ac- 
cident to  her  child's  hand,  was  herself  so  moved  by 
the  sight  that  her  own  hand  was  similarly  injured, 
though  it  was  untouched  except  by  her  own  thinking. 
This  is  sympathy  of  the  destructive  kind.  It  is 
created  and  its  character  is  decided  by  the  thinking 
which  follows  the  sight  of  the  accident.  The  same 
thing  is  illustrated  in  the  case  of  the  surgeon.  If 
he  should  allow  his  thoughts  to  run  upon  the  fears 
of  his  patient,  or  if  he  should  fill  his  mind  with 
thoughts  of  the  possible  disastrous  consequences  of 
an  accident  in  the  course  of  the  operation,  he  would 
wholly  unfit  himself  for  the  work  before  him  and 
prepare  himself  to  make  the  fatal  mistake. 

That  this  is  not  exaggeration  is  seen  in  the  almost 


SYMPATHY  267 

universal  experience  of  a  man  learning  to  ride  the 
bicycle.  Unless  he  can  take  his  mind  off  the  ob- 
ject with  which  he  is  liable  to  collide  and  think  of 
something  else,  the  collision  is  certain  despite  the 
rider's  most  strenuous  efforts. 

Similar  mental  actions  are  seen  in  thousands  of 
cases.  Too  often  the  sympathizer  allows  his  mind 
to  run  on  painful,  discordant,  or  dangerous  conditions 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  else,  literally  filling  himself 
with  similar  conditions  and  utterly  destroying  any 
possible  efficiency  in  serviceable  directions.  Too 
many  think  that  this  is  the  essential  whole  of  sym- 
pathy, and  that  those'  who  fail  in  this  are  hard- 
hearted and  unsympathetic.  That  is,  they  think 
that  we  must  mourn  with  those  who  mourn,  weep 
with  those  who  weep,  be  angry  with  those  who 
are  angry,  despair  with  those  who  despair;  and  so 
on  through  the  whole  list  of  inharmonious  thoughts 
and  emotions.  Unfortunately  there  is  a  large  class 
of  sufferers  who  are  never  satisfied  unless  they 
receive  this  perverted  and  pernicious  sympathy. 

All  this  is  a  serious  mistake  because  it  is  discordant, 
and  discordant  sympathy,  like  all  other  discord, 
always  results  in  injury  to  all  who  entertain  it; 
besides,  the  influence  of  mind  upon  mind  is  such 
that  even  though  no  expression  is  given  to  the  dis- 


268  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

turbing  thoughts,  yet  both  parties  will  be  affected  bj 
them. 

Why  does  the  wise  physician  welcome  one  visitor 
to  a  patient  and  deny  another?  Because  one  mani- 
fests sympathy  in  a  way  that  makes  the  sick  person 
forget  his  pain  and  look  cheerily  out  toward  health 
with  thoughts  uplifted  and  hopes  renewed.  The 
other  comes  with  pitying  words  and  sorrowful  looks 
—  sympathetic  to  the  last  degree,  but  as  depressing 
as  a  wet  blanket.  The  welcome  visitor  is  not  wanting 
in  sympathy,  and  his  appreciation  of  the  situation 
is  as  keen  and  comprehensive  as  that  of  the  other, 
but  he  refuses  to  allow  his  own  mind  to  be  occupied 
with  discordant  thoughts.  He  has  as  much  friend- 
liness and  affection  for  the  sufferer  as  the  other,  but 
is  prompted  by  these  emotions  instead  of  by  his 
vision  of  the  suffering.  This  is  sympathy  of  the 
right  kind.  It  is  sympathy  with  the  best  in  man- 
kind instead  of  the  worst,  and  it  results  in  helpful- 
ness instead  of  injury. 

We  have  considered  sympathy  in  its  relation  to 
suffering,  but  that  is  only  one  of  its  manifestations. 
In  its  broader  field  it  touches  upon  all  human 
activities,  encouraging,  cheering,  and  stimulating 
mankind,  turning  failure  into  success  and  defeat 
into  victory.     The  sympathy  of  one  strong,  fearless 


SYMPATHY  269 

soul  has  strengthened  many  a  fainting  heart  and 
has  built  the  bridge  over  which  many  have  crossed 
from  despair  to  renewed  hope  and  courage. 

In  the  home,  the  schoolroom,  in  business  and  in 
social  life,  everywhere,  it  is  sympathy  that  brings 
harmony  and  promotes  happiness;  but  it  must  be 
of  the  right  kind,  for  emotional  sympathy  uncon- 
trolled by  reason  and  discrimination,  like  an  in- 
strument badly  out  of  tune,  is  disturbing  and 
annoying. 

This  sympathy  which  has  its  root  in  sensitiveness, 
when  rightly  used,  is  the  bond  between  persons, 
drawing  them  into  the  closest  mutual  relationship 
and  enabling  them  to  be  the  most  to  each  other 
and  to  do  the  most  for  each  other.  Without  it  the 
world  of  human  beings  would  be  a  mere  collection 
or  aggregation  of  integers  with  little  more  coherence 
than  grains  of  sand  on  the  seashore. 

Humanity  depends  upon  sympathy  far  more 
than  it  realizes  and  constantly  receives  it  in  unnoted 
ways.  We  do  not  understand  why,  but  a  sense  of 
peace  and  strength  comes  as  we  look  into  some 
face  seen  perhaps  for  the  first  time ;  we  hear  a  voice, 
and  something  within  us  responds  in  harmony. 
No  one  can  measure  its  influence  when  this  sympathy 
goes  out  from  one  whose  soul  is  so  filled  with  love 


270  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

for  all  humanity  that  he  has  an  ear  for  every  heart 
pulse  that  is  beating. 

It  has  been  said  that  "next  to  love  sympathy 
is  the  divinest  passion  of  the  human  heart."  It 
might  well  be  said  that  true  sympathy  is  born  of 
that  love  which  Jesus,  the  Christ,  bade  us  have  for 
one  another  —  a  love  which  helps  always,  which 
is  pure  in  thought,  and  word,  and  deed;  which 
seeks  always  to  elevate  and  strengthen.  Of  such 
loving  sympathy  there  can  never  be  too  much.  It 
may  be  given  full  range,  for  its  fruit  is  always  har- 
mony. It  has  helped  thousands  back  to  life,  health, 
and  happiness ;  while  its  opposite,  born  not  of  love, 
but  of  apprehension,  fear,  and  all  the  mental  imag- 
inings of  evil  which  enter  into  and  create  destruc- 
tive sympathy,  has  hurled  many  other  thousands 
toward  destruction  and  death. 


XXXVII 

SUGGESTION 

Analysis  of  the  elements  of  that  relationship 
which  exists  between  man  and  man  shows  that  in 
its  more  subtle  as  well  as  in  its  more  apparent  activ- 
ities suggestion  plays  an  important  and  almost  uni- 
versal part.  Who  is  there  who  has  not  over  and 
over  again  responded  joyously  to  the  hearty  laugh 
of  a  friend  or  been  possessed  by  the  opposite  emo- 
tion in  response  to  the  sad  face  of  grief,  even  of  a 
stranger?  This  occurs  though  one  may  be  ignorant 
of  the  cause  of  the  laughter  or  of  the  tears,  and  it  is 
the  result  of  the  suggestions  conveyed  by  outward 
expressions.  It  operates  not  only  through  deeds, 
words,  expressions  of  form  and  face,  but  also  through 
the  unspoken  thought.  The  yawn  that  goes  around 
the  room  in  quick  response  to  the  unintended  action 
of  a  single  member  of  the  company  is  full  refutation 
of  the  assertion  that  suggestions  do  not  have  any 
effect.  Even  the  best-poised  and  most  self-controlled 
are  not  entirely  free  from  their  influence. 

271 


272  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

When  undecided  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued  a 
suggestion  from  another  frequently  becomes  a  turn- 
ing-point to  influence  the  decision.  Men,  looking 
for  something  which  shall  show  them  the  way  they 
ought  to  go,  in  their  dilemma  often  seek  such  sug- 
gestions. The  frequency  of  these  occasions  will  be 
surprising  to  one  who  has  never  taken  note  of  them. 
They  are  not  aware  that  they  are  fostering  a  mental 
condition  which  will  render  them  more  susceptible 
to  the  influence,  control,  or  even  to  the  absolute 
domination  of  another.  They  think  they  exercise 
their  own  judgment  in  forming  their  conclusions 
when  really  they  have  been  seeking  something  to 
influence  that  judgment  and  to  aid  them  in  their 
decision.  This  is  correct  enough  if  the  final  deci- 
sion is  really  their  own.  It  is  right  to  seek  informa- 
tion and  advice  from  all  sources,  but  at  the  last  one 
should  decide  the  issue  independently  and  of  one's 
self. 

Every  one  is  open  to  the  suggestive  influence  of 
external  things  as  well  as  to  the  personal  and  men- 
tal influence  of  others.  This  varies  with  character, 
temperament,  and  experience,  at  last  turning  chiefly 
on  one's  control  of  his  thinking.  Many  are  veered 
this  way  and  that  by  very  slight  suggestion.  This 
is  especially  noticeable  in  all  weak  characters,  and 


SUGGESTION  273 

their  susceptibility  is  the  cause  of  their  weakness; 
but  even  the  self-reliant  and  strong  are  also  largely 
influenced  by  friends  and  associates,  and  particu- 
larly by  those  whom  they  believe  to  be  possessed  of 
greater  ability,  experience,  or  wisdom.  The  differ- 
ence is  great  between  the  weak  hypnotic  subject  who 
stands  at  one  end  of  the  long  line  and  the  well-bal- 
anced, self-contained,  and  self-controlled  person 
who  stands  at  the  other  end;  but  the  difference  is 
small  between  any  two  who  stand  next  each  other  in 
that  line,  and  one  may  glide  from  one  condition 
into  the  other  by  insensible  degrees.  Yet  sugges- 
tions do  not  necessarily  control,  for  every  one  has  re- 
ceived many  with  which  he  has  not  complied,  and 
this  fact  implies  the  possibility  of  complete  self-con- 
trol even  under  the  most  extreme  conditions  of 
suggestion. 

Wise  discretion  is  necessary  on  the  part  of  those 
who  would  wield  an  influence  for  good,  and  this 
furnishes  an  additional  reason  for  the  exercise  of 
rigorous  mental  control  for  the  advantage  of  others 
as  well  as  for  one's  own  self.  A  recent  writer  ex- 
claims: "How  many  thousands,  nay  millions,  of 
poor  souls  all  over  the  world  will  have  their  lives 
saddened  by  the  drip  of  your  tears  who  might  have 
been  gladdened  by  the  sunlight  of  your  smile!" 


2  74  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

This  may  be  poetic  exaggeration,  but  after  all  who 
knows  where  the  suggestive  influence  of  a  word,  or 
look,  or  even  an  unexpressed  but  positive  thought, 
shall  cease  ?  If  "  the  fall  of  a  pebble  echoes  through- 
out the  farthest  corridors  of  the  universe,"  how  much 
more  may  a  thought ! 

It  is  unquestionably  a  disadvantage  to  tell  an- 
other, whether  acquaintance  or  otherwise,  that  he  is 
"out  at  the  elbows."  The  strong  probability  is 
that  he  knows  it  already,  and  an  allusion  to  it  will 
tend  to  rouse  discordant  thoughts  in  his  mind  and 
to  intensify  those  already  there,  no  one  knows  how 
much  to  his  harm.  It  would  be  far  wiser  to  arouse 
harmonious  thinking  with  all  its  advantages  by  call- 
ing his  attention  to  some  of  his  desirable  or  praise- 
worthy qualities,  or  conditions,  thereby  encouraging, 
stimulating,  and  aiding  him  to  overcome  whatever 
is  objectionable.  These  better  conditions  will  not 
be  difficult  to  find  even  in  the  worst  possible  person, 
especially  if  one  has  trained  himself  in  the  habit  of 
seeking  them.  Advantages  will  as  surely  follow 
cheerful  suggestions  as  harm  will  follow  depressing 
ones. 

It  is  being  widely  recognized  that  all  this  is  of 
special  value  in  health  as  well  as  in  morals.  The 
wise  physician  understands  that  it  is  his  duty  to 


SUGGESTION  275 

cultivate  confidence  and  cheerfulness  not  only  in  his 
words  but  in  the  expression  of  his  face,  the  tone  of 
his  voice,  and  his  whole  manner  toward  his  patient. 

Hudson  says  of  disease  induced  by  erroneous  sug- 
gestion that  it  is  safe  to  say  that  nine-tenths  of  all 
the  ailments  of  the  human  family  may  be  traced  to 
this  source.1 

Albert  Moll,  who  is  good  scientific  authority  on 
this  topic,  and  who  cannot  be  accused  of  exaggera- 
tion, says  in  his  work  on  hypnotism:  "There  are 
few  people  who  are  not  injured  when  they  are  assured 
on  all  sides  that  they  look  ill,  and  I  think  many 
have  been  as  much  injured  by  this  cumulative  pro- 
cess as  if  they  had  been  poisoned."2 

A  single  well-authenticated  case  of  intentional 
suggestion  will  illustrate  the  disasters  which  may 
result.  In  one  of  the  shops  of  a  large  manufactur- 
ing company  a  young  man  of  vigorous  health  was 
subjected  to  the  "practical  jokes"  of  his  fellow- 
workmen.  One  morning  a  half-dozen  of  them  sta- 
tioned themselves  just  out  of  sight  of  each  other 
along  the  way  he  was  to  go  to  his  daily  work.  The 
first  one  accosted  him  pleasantly  with  inquiries  after 
his  health  and  with  various  assertions  that  he  was 
not  looking  well.     To  all  this  he  responded  accord- 

1  The  Evolution  of  the  Soul,  p.  295.  2  Hypnotism,  p.  357. 


276  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

ing  to  the  fact ;  he  had  enjoyed  a  good  night's  sleep, 
had  eaten  a  hearty  breakfast,  and  felt  well  in  every 
way.  To  the  suggestion  that  he  must  have  a  head- 
ache he  answered  in  the  negative.  The  next  one 
he  met  had  questions  and  statements  like  the  first, 
only  a  little  more  positive  in  their  character.  To 
these  he  did  not  respond  with  so  much  confidence  as 
at  first.  His  positiveness  decreased  as  each  succeed- 
ing fellow-workman  whom  he  encountered  met  him 
with  stronger  assurances  of  his  ill  health,  until  at 
last,  by  these  repeated  suggestions,  he  was  really 
convinced  that  he  was  ill.  On  his  arrival  at  the 
shop,  instead  of  going  to  his  work  he  went  to  the 
superintendent,  asked  for  leave  because  of  sickness, 
went  home,  and  was  sick  in  bed  two  weeks  under 
the  care  of  a  physician.  Of  course  the  adept  in 
mental  self-control  would  avoid  all  this  by  refusing 
to  allow  the  presence  in  his  mind  of  the  discordant 
thoughts  which  had  been  suggested. 

But  it  is  not  alone  among  the  joking  workmen  of 
the  shops  that  this  sort  of  thing  occurs.  Dr.  Arthur 
T.  Schofield  narrates  the  following:  "Two  medical 
men  were  walking  together,  and  one  was  saying  that 
he  could  make  a  man  ill  by  merely  talking  to  him. 
The  other  doubted  this.  So,  seeing  a  laborer  in  a 
field,  the  first  speaker  went  up  to  him  and,  telling 


SUGGESTION  277 

him  he  did  not  like  his  appearance,  proceeded  to 
diagnose  some  grave  disease.  The  man  was  pro- 
foundly struck,  left  off  work  soon  after,  feeling  very 
ill,  took  to  his  bed,  and  in  a  week  died;  no  suffi- 
cient physical  cause  being  found."  ' 

In  an  article  on  hypnotism,  which  is  only  an 
extreme  form  of  suggestion,  is  governed  by  similar 
fundamental  principles,  acts  through  similar  men- 
tal methods,  and  differs  from  it  more  in  its  complete- 
ness than  otherwise,  Dr.  Menard  sets  forth  the  in- 
jurious effects  and  possibilities  of  suggestion.  He 
says:  "When  a  subject  is  in  the  state  of  hypnosis, 
his  mind  accepts  without  control  the  ideas  that  are 
suggested  to  him,  and  these  ideas  are  translated  into 
actions.  .  .  .  The  subject  who  is  persuaded  that 
he  cannot  raise  his  arm,  open  his  eyes,  rise  from  his 
chair,  or  cross  a  threshold,  really  experiences  those 
forms  of  paralysis.  He  cannot  move,  because  he  is 
convinced  of  the  impossibility  of  movement.  In 
hypnosis,  with  or  without  sleep,  if  you  give  your 
subject  a  glass  of  water  to  drink,  telling  him  it  is  a 
strong  purgative,  he  will  experience  its  effect,  as  if 
it  had  been  so  really.  .  .  . 

"The  idea  need  not  have  been  introduced  into  the 
mind  during  hypnosis  and  by  another  person;    it 

1  The  Force  of  Mind ;  or,  the  Mental  Factor  in  Medicine,  p.  96. 


278  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

may  spring  up  in  the  mind  in  an  apparently  spon- 
taneous fashion,  following  a  strong  emotion  due  to 
the  erroneous  interpretation  of  a  special  sensation. 
The  individual  who  believes  himself  ill  is  really  so ; 
he  is  not  an  imaginary  sick  man,  but  a  man  who  is 
sick  because  of  his  imagination.  He  may,  as  in 
hypnotic  experiments,  be  dyspeptic  or  paralyzed  or 
drunk  by  auto-suggestion.  ...  A  conscious  or 
subconscious  fixed  idea  is  the  cause  of  the  whole 
trouble."  ■ 

In  other  words,  the  change  of  the  mind  —  whether 
that  change  occurs  in  consequence  of  the  silent  dic- 
tum of  the  hypnotist,  or  in  response  to  the  verbal 
suggestion  of  a  friend,  or  because  of  a  suggestion 
received  from  some  external  action  or  condition,  or 
even  in  the  course  of  one's  own  thinking  and  from 
one's  own  conclusions  —  really  produces  in  the 
physical  structure  those  conditions  which  have  been 
taken  note  of  and  accepted  by  the  mind  as  real ;  and 
this  occurs  wholly  regardless  of  the  fact  that  those 
conditions  did  not  have  any  existence  outside  of  the 
thinker's  own  mentality. 

What  a  wrong  it  is,  then,  even  though  with  the 
best  intentions,  to  say  to  a  person  sitting  by  an  open 
window,  "Aren't  you  afraid  you  will  take  cold?" 

1  Cosmos  (Paris),  June  4,  1904. 


SUGGESTION  279 

The  more  earnest  the  speaker,  the  more  surely  will 
the  injury  be  inflicted.  According  to  Dr.  Menard, 
the  cold  is  far  more  liable  to  be  caused  by  the  sug- 
gestion than  by  the  exposure,  and  therefore  the  sug- 
gestion is  the  more  dangerous  of  the  two.  How  often 
at  the  table  is  heard  the  remark,  "I  am  afraid  that 
will  hurt  you."  This  habit  persistently  followed  is 
more  certain  to  cause  injury  than  any  kind  of  inju- 
rious food.  The  same  is  true  of  a  thousand  simi- 
lar well-meant  cautions  which  any  one  can  recall 
from  his  own  experience. 

The  number  of  cases  is  innumerable  where  care- 
ful, anxious,  painstaking,  and  conscientious  mothers, 
by  their  needless  caution  and  care-taking,  and  by 
their  persistent  suggestions  of  danger  from  cold,  wet 
feet,  drafts,  overexertion,  and  the  thousand  and 
one  other  things  which  overanxiety  presents  to  their 
minds,  have  planted  inability,  effeminacy,  decay, 
disease,  misery,  and  even  death  in  the  minds  and 
bodies  of  the  children  they  love  so  well  and  care  for 
so  anxiously.  Similar  error  is  wrought,  not  alone  by 
mothers,  but  by  relatives,  friends,  acquaintances,  and 
incidental  associates  through  their  well-meant  but 
erroneous  cautions,  which  are  really  suggestions 
of  impending  evil.  Herein  is  at  least  one  reason  why 
the  children  of  the  poor  are  so  often  more  vigorous, 


280  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

hardy,  and  healthy  than  those  of  the  wealthy. 
These  mothers  have  something  else  to  do  besides  to 
suggest  evils  to  their  children,  and  they  do  not  have 
time  to  educate  them  into  disease,  so  the  children 
escape  the  infliction  and  are  happier  all  their 
lives. 

Two  things  are  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection. 
One  is  that  the  principle  will  work  both  ways.  If, 
as  Menard  says,  change  of  mind  will  produce  these 
ills,  a  change  of  mind  to  the  contrary  direction  will 
cure  them  when  once  contracted.  A  guest  who  was 
a  confirmed  dyspeptic  and  afraid  to  eat  any  but  the 
simplest  food,  was  encouraged  by  his  hostess,  who 
assured  him  with  much  positiveness  that  no  one  was 
ever  injured  by  anything  eaten  at  her  table.  He 
yielded  to  her  suggestion,  ate  a  good  meal,  partak- 
ing of  several  articles  of  food  which  he  had  thought 
were  harmful,  and  was  not  injured.  This  experi- 
ence so  changed  his  mind  that  he  lost  his  fear,  con- 
tinued to  eat,  and  his  dyspepsia  of  years'  standing 
was  cured.  Numerous  similar  instances  of  helpful 
suggestion  might  be  given. 

The  other  point  worthy  of  note  is  that  if  one  has 
so  trained  his  mind  as  to  exclude  the  harmful  sug- 
gestion, never  allowing  lodgement  of  the  noxious 
mental  seed,  he  will  have  complete  immunity  from 


SUGGESTION  281 

all  such  harm.  But  to  do  this  in  the  face  of  the 
persistent  endeavors  of  the  "calamity  howlers'7 
necessitates  both  skill  and  tact,  because  no  class  of 
a  community  is  more  thoroughly  convinced  that 
they  are  right,  and  none  more  sincere  and  persistent 
in  their  well-meant  but  pernicious  endeavors.  Their 
motive  is  right.  It  is  their  method  that  is  wrong. 
They  thoroughly  believe  all  that  they  say,  really 
are  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  their  friends,  and 
often  are  greatly  disturbed  if  their  suggestions  are 
not  heeded.  These  suggestions  would  soon  cease 
if  one  would  keep  his  own  mind  steadily  poised  and 
admit  no  discordant  thoughts. 

Of  the  same  class  are  those  who  pursue  a  similar 
course  toward  their  friends  in  the  sick  room,  and 
toward  those  who  complain  of  sickness  in  any  de- 
gree. They  commiserate  them,  tell  them  how  badly 
they  look,  "sympathize"  with  them  with  the  "sym- 
pathy" which  destroys,  and  enlarge  upon  the  more 
serious  phases  of  their  disease.  These  people  seem 
happy  when  they  can  tell  one  who  is  ill  about  the 
extreme  suffering  of  others  in  a  like  condition;  and 
if  they  know  of  some  one  who  has  died  of  a  similar 
disease  they  retail  all  the  particulars  to  the  sufferer 
who  lies  there  at  their  mercy.  This  kind  of  consola- 
tion for  the  sick  has  a  wonderful  fascination  for 


282  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

those  who  indulge  in  it,  and  they  think  them- 
selves comforters,  but  in  reality  they  are  human 
vampires. 

Such  a  habit  indicates  unhealthy,  morbid  mental 
conditions.  Its  viciousness  need  not  be  enlarged 
upon,  but  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.  No 
one  should  need  even  a  hint  that  he  ought  to  avoid 
all  such  suggestions  of  evil  either  to  the  sick  or  to 
the  well.  Yet  large  numbers  who  recognize  the 
correctness  of  the  general  position  here  set  forth 
thoughtlessly  indulge  themselves  in  the  vice,  for 
vice  it  is.  What  more  can  be  said  to  influence  such 
persons  to  better  ways?  A  multitude  of  publica- 
tions set  forth  the  evils  which  such  a  course  entails, 
but  it  is  worth  another  effort  if  even  a  single  person 
is  restrained  by  these  words. 

Looked  at  from  one  point  of  view,  such  sugges- 
tions are  little  short  of  criminal.  We  are  eager  to 
stop  the  career  of  him  who  robs  another  of  his  ma- 
terial possessions,  and  he  who  poisons  another's 
food  is  held  to  be  a  murderer,  yet  people  go  on 
poisoning  the  minds  of  their  associates  and  robbing 
them  of  their  birthright  of  health  and  happiness,  and 
no  one  is  held  accountable.  If  it  were  possible, 
there  ought  to  be  a  law  prohibiting  such  suggestions, 
with  due  penalties  for  their  utterance;    but,  better 


SUGGESTION  283 

still,  each  one  may  make  such  a  law  for  himself  and 
then  obey  it. 

If  we  desire  habitually  to  scatter  sunshine  and 
health  among  our  fellows  wherever  we  meet  them, 
not  only  our  deeds  and  words,  but  our  facial  expres- 
sions and  our  thoughts  themselves,  must  be  well  con- 
trolled and  cheerful.  If  the  right  mental  habits  are 
established,  all  the  external  expressions  will  take  care 
of  themselves  without  attention  or  effort,  and  our 
presence  alone  will  carry  suggestions  of  gladness 
wherever  we  go. 


XXXVIII 
HYPNOTIC   CONTROL 

There  is  a  broad  and  well- recognized  sphere  of 
personal  influence  which,  though  widely  discussed, 
is  not  fully  understood,  and  extremely  conflicting 
opinions  are  held  about  it.  It  assumes  a  multitude 
of  forms,  sometimes  exerts  very  positive  control  over 
others,  and  is  the  result  of  peculiar  conditions  which 
in  some  of  their  phases  have  received  a  very  large 
amount  of  systematic  investigation,  though  the  in- 
vestigators have  not  reached  an  absolute  agreement 
among  themselves. 

Students  of  these  phenomena,  whether  or  not  they 
accept  the  more  extreme  doctrines  of  telepathy, 
sooner  or  later  become  convinced  that  there  is  some 
means  of  communicating  thoughts  and  mental  con- 
ditions other  than  the  more  apparent  methods  of 
speech,  facial  expression,  gesture,  and  other  action. 
Some  deny  that  these  expressions  exist  except  as 
figments  of  imagination ;  but  the  strong  tendency  of 
scientific  investigation  is  toward  the  opinion  expressed 

284 


HYPNOTIC  CONTROL  285 

by  a  recent  writer,  "that  thoughts  pass  in  their  own 
subtle,  silent  way  from  mind  to  mind,  and  that  no 
man  can  think,  however  secretly,  without  spreading 
the  influence  of  his  thought  into  the  minds  around 
him." 

Open  as  most  of  us  are  to  the  influence  of  verbal 
suggestion,  there  is  something  more  subtle  which 
may  control  us  without  our  being  aware  of  it.  This 
particular  phase  of  personal  influence  finds  its  most 
extreme  and  perhaps  its  worst  form  in  what  has 
been  called  by  the  various  names  of  mesmerism, 
animal  magnetism,  and  more  recently  hypnotism. 
According  to  later  authorities  it  is  suggestion  by 
means  of  either  the  vocalized  or  unvocalized  think- 
ing which  controls  the  hypnotized  person.  We  have 
no  means  of  knowing  how  often  this  is  the  case  in 
ordinary  life  when  there  is  no  intention  to  hypnotize 
and  where  none  of  its  formalities  are  used.  Through 
it  one  mind  may  control  another  with  more  or  less 
of  an  approach  toward  an  absoluteness  which  is 
sometimes  complete,  and  it  is  an  important  question 
whether  there  is  a  defence  against  these  varied  sug- 
gestive influences  in  any  or  all  of  their  manifold 
forms. 

The  mental  habit  of  the  vast  majority  of  mankind 
is  to  follow  any  suggestion  that  presents  itself  with- 


286  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

out  much  direct  control  of  one's  own  thinking  unless 
the  subject  is  widely  outside  the  ordinary  track. 
Random  thinking  is  the  rule  with  some  persons, 
whether  it  be  merely  aimless  revery;  the  more  or 
less  ecstatic  drift  of  thought  set  up  by  sensuous  sur- 
roundings of  various  kinds,  as  light,  color,  or  sound ; 
the  self-suggested  mental  action  arising  from  the 
memory  of  some  past  experience;  the  suggestive 
word,  or  even  the  mere  presence  of  another  person. 
These  mental  activities  may  be  either  pleasant  to 
the  extent  of  intoxication  or  uncomfortable  to  the 
extent  of  acute  pain  and  distress;  all  of  them  are 
injurious,  and  their  indulgence  is  a  worse  than  use- 
less waste  of  time. 

It  appears  most  remarkable  that  no  worse  con- 
sequences have  followed  uncontrolled,  aimless, 
objectless,  haphazard,  random  mental  action.  For- 
tunately, not  all  thinking  is  of  this  kind;  and,  for- 
tunately for  the  good  of  the  race,  more  often  than 
otherwise  the  general  tendency  of  this  unguided 
thinking  is  toward  more  desirable  things,  because 
every  man  is  really  seeking  that  which  he  considers 
an  improvement  over  his  present  condition  or  attain- 
ment, and  his  thinking  follows  his  strongest  incli- 
nation without  any  intentional  control.  But  the 
person  who  has  really  assumed  full  control  of  his 


HYPNOTIC   CONTROL  287 

thinking  and  maintains  it  stands  on  a  pedestal  which 
cannot  be  shaken.  He  guides  his  thoughts  where 
he  will  and  can  bid  defiance  to  suggestions  of  every 
kind.  He  is  consciously  himself,  and  not  a  weather- 
vane  to  be  veered  about  by  every  breath  of  influence. 

The  prominent  characteristic  of  the  fully  devel- 
oped hypnotic  state  is  a  condition  wherein  the  nor- 
mal mental  powers  are  either  dulled,  suspended,  or 
in  a  state  of  abeyance,  so  that  the  mind  accepts 
without  inquiry  any  statement  and  obeys  without 
objection  any  command  suggested  to  it  or  thrust 
upon  it.  Hence,  the  man's  thinking  being  con- 
trolled, his  actions  are  controlled  also.  This  is  the 
last  step  in  personal  influence.  A  man  in  this  con- 
dition is  no  longer  free,  because  in  abandoning  the 
control  of  his  mind  he  has  surrendered  his  freedom. 
He  is  so  completely  the  slave  of  another  that  he  is 
no  longer  himself,  but  is  merely  a  machine,  an  au- 
tomaton, a  puppet,  acting  solely  by  another's  guid- 
ance and  without ""  any  initiative,  choice,  or  will  of 
his  own. 

Such  abandonment  of  one's  self  to  the  control  of 
another  cannot  be  anything  but  criminal  on  the  part 
of  the  one  who  purposely  permits  it,  and  also  on  the 
part  of  the  one  who  induces  the  condition.  Suicide 
may  be  worse,  but  this  is  temporary  suicide,  for  the 


288  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

man  has  allowed  his  own  self  to  become  inactive, 
and  for  the  time  he  is  dead.  The  worst  result  of  it 
all  is  that  this  condition  may  be  continued  even  into 
his  " waking  moments,"  so  that  a  long  time  after 
the  hypnotic  state  is  supposed  to  have  ceased,  his 
actions  are  sometimes  controlled  by  the  suggestions 
received  during  his  hypnotic  condition.  In  view  of 
these  acknowledged  post-hypnotic  actions  of  the  vic- 
tims it  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  tell  how  far  into 
the  future  this  influence  may  extend  nor  how  inclu- 
sive it  may  be. 

This  hypnotic  condition  and  its  results  are  possi- 
ble only  when  a  person  has  habitually  allowed  his 
mind  to  follow  in  any  direction  toward  which  ex- 
ternal circumstances  pointed,  and  has  thus  made 
himself  an  easy  prey  for  the  hypnotist,  who  depends 
for  his  success  upon  his  ability  to  control  the  think- 
ing of  his  subject.  Self-control  and  its  abandon- 
ment are  exact  opposites,  and  both  cannot  exist  at 
the  same  time  in  one  person.  The  contrast  between 
them  indicates  at  once  the  advantage  of  one  and 
the  disadvantage  of  the  other.  If  mental  self-con- 
trol is  desirable,  then  it  should  be  constantly  main- 
tained and  ought  never  to  be  weakened  by  indulgence 
in  its  opposite.  In  the  mental  condition  which  will 
result  from  exercising  the  control  advocated  in  these 


HYPNOTIC   CONTROL  289 

pages,  every  suggestion,  regardless  of  its  source, 
whether  mental  or  otherwise,  will  be  examined  and 
the  kind  and  character  of  the  thinking  which  shall 
follow  will  be  decided  upon  by  the  thinker  himself 
in  compliance  with  his  own  understanding,  choice, 
or  judgment.  If  a  person  purposely  controls  his 
thinking  at  all  times  until  the  habit  is  well  established, 
then  the  habit  itself,  without  conscious  effort,  will 
work  in  the  same  direction.  The  mental  action  of 
such  a  person  is  always  within  his  own  personal 
volition  and  is  controlled  absolutely  by  himself; 
therefore  hypnotic  suggestion  has  no  power  over 
him,  and  he  possesses  complete  immunity  from  all 
such  influence. 

The  man  who  has  habituated  himself  to  supremacy 
over  his  own  thinking  is  not  only  uncontrolled  by 
the  external  suggestions  of  which  he  is  aware,  but 
also  by  those  more  subtle  ones  of  which  he  may  not 
be  conscious,  because  his  own  mental  action  of 
which  he  is  not  conscious  is  so  dominated  by  this 
habit  of  self-control  that  the  thinking  of  others 
cannot  influence  him.  This  means  that  the  power 
of  habit  may  be  so  strong  that  even  a  man's  mental 
action  of  which  he  is  not  aware  is,  unconsciously 
to  himself,  wholly  in  abeyance  to  his  own  choice. 
Such  a  man  is  free. 


290  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

Here  is  not  only  efficient  protection  against  all 
hypnotic  or  mesmeric  intrusion,  but  also  against  all 
forms  of  improper  or  injurious  external  personal 
influences  of  every  kind  whatever.  He  who  con- 
trols his  own  thoughts  lives  in  his  own  castle,  which 
may  be  absolutely  impregnable  against  assault  from 
within  or  without,  whether  insidious  or  open, 
whether  mild  or  violent.  God  means  it  to  be  so. 
The  man  who  does  not  thus  have  mastery  of  himself 
is  short  of  his  own  stature.  The  physically  strong 
may  feel  no  self-confidence  unless  to  their  physical 
strength  they  have  added  control  of  their  thinking. 
Neither  need  the  physically  weak  be  frightened 
because  of  their  weakness,  for  neither  physical 
strength  nor  weakness  is  a  factor  in  the  case.  With- 
out the  exercise  of  any  physical  strength  whatever, 
each  may  maintain  perfect  mental  control,  thus 
insuring  absolute  freedom  to  himself. 


XXXIX 
ENVIRONMENT 

It  is  generally  believed  that  man  is  to  a  very 
large  extent,  if  not  wholly,  subject  to  his  environ- 
ment, mentally  and  physically  the  creature  of  ex- 
ternal circumstances  or  conditions  and  their  sugges- 
tions. While  it  is  substantially  true  that  in  man's 
present  state,  the  stimulus  from  environment  largely 
decides  his  course  and  development,  yet  a  little 
attention  to  the  statement  of  basic  principles  herein 
set  forth  will  show  that  this  submission  is  not  neces- 
sary, and  that  man  may  become  independent  of 
environment  and  largely  if  not  completely  its  master. 
An  examination  of  historic  conditions  should  con- 
vince the  most  sceptical  that  too  much  importance 
has  been  attributed  to  the  influence  of  man's  sur- 
roundings. 

The  influence  of  climate  has  been  held  to  be 
largely  the  reason  for  the  various  conditions  of 
human  beings  in  different  localities,  but  it  was  not 
a  change  in  climatic  conditions  which  caused  the 

291 


292  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

changes  in  the  character  of  the  inhabitants  of  Eng- 
land. The  climate  of  that  country  is  now  sub- 
stantially what  it  was  centuries  ago,  and  if  it  has 
changed  at  all,  that  change  is  vastly  less  than  the 
changes  in  the  character  of  the  people.  Does  some 
one  say  this  is  a  case  of  development?  Very  true; 
but  that  development  is  the  result  of  a  mental  change, 
and  not  of  any  change  in  environment  except  such 
as  the  changes  in  thinking  have  produced. 

Changes  of  thinking  have  created  the  differences 
between  the  conditions  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe 
before  the  time  of  the  Caesars  and  their  condition 
to-day,  but  not  change  of  climate  nor  any  other 
change  in  their  natural  environment.  In  many 
points  they  have  demonstrated  their  superiority  over 
environment,  and  by  artificial  means  they  have 
modified  environment  itself.  This  is  true  of  all 
Europe. 

Look  at  the  varying  stages  of  progress  in  the 
different  epochs  of  Greece  and  Rome  —  in  their 
earlier  days,  in  the  zenith  of  their  prosperity,  in  the 
degradation  of  their  downfall,  and  in  these  modern 
times  —  each  stands  out  distinct  from  either  of 
the  others.  It  was  changes  of  thought  which 
wrought  the  revolutions  —  not  changes  of  environ- 
ment. 


ENVIRONMENT  293 

The  Egypt  of  the  Pharaohs  had  the  same  sun  and 
air,  the  same  soil  and  water,  that  she  has  to-day, 
but  what  are  her  rulers  and  people  now  compared 
with  those  of  the  ancient  centuries !  In  the  days  of 
their  glory  their  environment  was  the  same  as  to- 
day, but  the  thoughts  of  that  period  have  been  lost. 
The  change  that  is  now  going  on  in  that  country 
is  not  due  to  climate,  but  to  ideas.  Babylonia  and 
Assyria  need  only  to  be  named  as  further  examples. 

The  American  Indians  had  inhabited  this  conti- 
nent for  centuries,  but  they  did  not  develop  along 
the  same  lines  as  the  white  men  who  thrust  them- 
selves into  that  environment;  yet  the  climate  and 
soil  remain  practically  the  same.  Changes  of  envi- 
ronment have  been  made  by  the  new  inhabitants, 
but  not  changes  in  the  characteristics  of  the  inhabit- 
ants by  the  environment.  All  the  differences  here 
are  clearly  the  result  of  a  change  of  the  inhabitants, 
bringing  different  thoughts,  ambitions,  and  aspira- 
tions, and  these  are  at  the  foundation  of  the  new 
development. 

In  the  great  southwest  of  the  United  States  a 
second  change  of  inhabitants  has  taken  place. 
That  region  was  settled  by  the  Spanish  earlier  than 
was  New  England.  Its  first  change  in  condition 
was  distinctly  along    certain  lines  of   thinking  pe- 


294  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

culiar  to  the  Spaniard.  The  last  seventy-rive  years 
have  seen  all  that  revolutionized,  not  by  change  of 
climate,  but  by  the  introduction  of  another  people 
with  other  characteristics  of  thought.  The  climate 
did  not  make  the  changes  nor  create  either  of  these 
three  kinds  of  civilization.  That  was  done  by 
thinking  alone,  and  by  the  actions  which  that  think- 
ing necessitated.  The  climate  is  the  same  that  it 
has  been  from  earliest  history,  but,  by  the  domination 
of  a  new  set  of  ideas  over  the  environment,  even  the 
face  of  nature  has  been  changed. 

It  is  true  that  the  environment  of  man  in  America 
is  very  largely  different  from  what  it  was  when 
Columbus  discovered  the  continent,  but  man  has 
made  those  changes  in  response  to  the  demands  of 
his  own  thinking.  He  has  modified  temperature 
by  erecting  houses  and  providing  facilities  for  warm- 
ing them.  He  has  modified  atmospheric  conditions 
by  cutting  down  trees,  constructing  irrigating  canals, 
and  cultivating  the  soil.  These  changes  were 
caused  by  artificial  means  in  obedience  to  the  mind 
of  man.  Nature  did  none  of  it  except  in  response 
to  man's  action. 

When  properly  considered,  history  shows  that 
mind  modifies,  changes,  and  controls  with  less  re- 
gard to  external  conditions  than  is  usually  supposed. 


ENVIRONMENT  295 

Admit  that  in  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  of 
fertility  and  barrenness,  environment  dominates; 
but  even  these  have  been  to  a  large  extent  modified 
and  overcome  by  what  mind  has  done.  The  arid 
plains  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  like  those  of 
Babylonia  and  Assyria,  were  once  fertile  fields 
made  so  by  irrigation,  while  what  were  once  deserts 
of  our  own  great  West  are  fast  becoming  fertile  fields. 

The  case  is  plain.  The  facts  of  history  already 
cited  apply  to  the  entire  environment  as  well  as  to 
each  incident  or  condition  of  it.  Thinking  is  the 
initial  action,  the  antecedent  and  cause  of  all  human 
actions.  Between  any  external  condition  or  in- 
cident and  the  bodily  action  which  follows  stands 
the  person's  own  thinking.  Not  the  external  con- 
dition or  occurrence,  but  the  thinking,  determines 
what  the  bodily  action  shall  be  and  its  entire  char- 
acter. This  thinking,  as  has  so  often  been  said, 
may  be  entirely  within  man's  control;  therefore  he 
himself,  and  not  his  environment,  is  responsible  for 
the  results,  be  they  good  or  bad. 

Men  say  that  certain  circumstances  force  them- 
selves upon  them  and  make  certain  lines  of  conduct 
necessary;  and  this  declaration  appears  to  be  true, 
but  that  is  because  they  allow  it  to  be  so.  What- 
ever seems  to  force  man  out  of  his  way  might  have 


296  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

been  overcome  by  appropriate  mental  action,  and 
the  difficulty  might  have  been  obviated. 

The  whole  world  is  trying  to  excuse  itself  for 
many  of  its  failures,  evil  conditions,  and  actions 
by  charging  the  responsibility  to  environment. 
The  blame  is  attributed  to  everything  contiguous 
—  not  alone  to  persons,  but  animals,  insensible 
things,  and  the  most  trivial  conditions.  Nothing 
is  entirely  exempt.  The  weather  comes  in  for  a 
large  share,  and  even  the  stars  are  held  responsible 
for  our  wrongdoing. 

It  is  true  that  the  external  incident  or  condition 
serves  to  set  in  motion  certain  trains  of  thought, 
and  these  vary  in  different  persons  inexact  accordance 
with  their  varying  opinions  and  habits  of  thinking, 
but  one  is  not  necessarily  subject  to  these  thoughts. 
He  can  control  them;  and,  furthermore,  a  man 
who  has  learned  to  exercise  this  control  can  instantly 
separate  the  wheat  from  the  tares  in  his  mental 
kingdom,  and  discard  whatever  is  worthless  or 
harmful.     It  is  all  under  his  own  control. 

This  is  self-activity,  and  Harris  well  says:  " Self- 
activity  is  essentially  different  from  relative  and 
dependent  being,  because  it  does  not  receive  its 
determinations  from  its  environment,  but  originates 
them  itself  in  the  form  of   feelings,  volitions,  and 


ENVIRONMENT  297 

thoughts."  *  All  activity  other  than  self -activity 
may  be  discarded,  and  man  may  thus  free  himself 
from  the  thraldom  of  environment.  No  man  is 
ever  forced  into  any  course  of  conduct,  though  he 
may  fall  into  it  by  allowing  a  change  in  his  thinking. 

If  this  statement  of  the  principle  is  correct,  then 
the  external  suggestion,  condition,  incident,  or 
thing  does  not  decide  what  a  man's  action  shall  be 
except  as  he  allows  it  to  do  so ;  neither  do  any  one 
nor  all  of  those  things  which  surround  him  neces- 
sarily give  any  more  than  merely  incidental  tone 
or  direction  to  his  actions.  Mind  is  supreme,  even 
over  itself,  in  that  it  determines  its  own  activities. 

It  is  not  the  thing  without,  but  the  thought  within, 
which  injures.  The  dyspeptic  sitting  at  the  table 
loaded  with  viands  is  not  injured  by  the  food  he 
does  not  eat.  Poison  does  not  kill  unless  it  is 
swallowed  and  absorbed.  The  thought  suggested 
by  the  word  one  hears  or  the  action  one  sees  —  that 
is,  by  the  environment  —  does  not  injure  unless 
it  finds  lodgement  within  a  person's  own  mind. 
Whether  it  finds  such  lodgement  or  not  depends  upon 
the  hearer  and  not  upon  the  speaker.  The  speaker's 
words  may  be  entirely  without  influence  upon  the 
hearer,  they  may  not  even  be  consciously  audible, 

1  Psychologic  Foundations  0/  Education,  p.  4. 


298  RIGHT  AND  WRONG  THINKING 

and  this  is  decided  by  the  hearer's  own  course  of 
thinking.  Each  man  is  impervious  to  another's 
thoughts  and  uninfluenced  by  them  until  he  allows 
his  own  thoughts  to  go  the  same  way.  The  choice 
is  his  own,  and  that  choice  decides  his  action. 

It  makes  no  difference  what  knowledge  one  may 
have  of  the  underlying  principles  and  methods  of 
any  course  of  action,  nor  how  good  one's  sentiments 
and  intentions  may  be,  if  he  does  not  take  advantage 
of  every  opportunity  to  use  those  principles  and 
methods  in  the  practical  application  of  them  to 
existent  conditions.  Nor  will  anything  be  accom- 
plished by  the  casual  thought  which  occupies  the 
mind  for  an  instant  only,  nor  by  the  forced  thought 
which  is  held  for  a  brief  time  in  contradiction  to 
the  settled  conviction.  Such  thinking  is  but  slightly 
operative,  because  of  its  light  and  transitory  char- 
acter. It  is  the  habitual,  determined  thinking 
arising  out  of  settled  convictions  and  opinions 
which  brings  results. 

By  this  persistence  in  right  thinking  man  may 
rise  so  superior  to  his  environment  that  it  shall 
not  injure  him.  This  is  seen  in  a  thousand  small 
ways,  all  of  which  point  to  the  larger  possibilities 
which  are  within  reach,  and  these  to  others  still 
beyond.     One  person's  mental  attitude  toward  the 


ENVIRONMENT  299 

weather  is  such  that  changes  of  temperature,  drafts, 
wet  feet,  damp  clothing,  and  a  thousand  other 
minor  conditions  bring  illness  of  more  or  less  severe 
character,  while  another  goes  through  them  all 
with  absolute  impunity.  One  person  will  remain 
out  in  the  storm  of  wind,  or  rain,  or  snow,  wet  to 
the  skin,  and  suffer  no  inconvenience,  while  another 
who  has  to  cross  a  damp  floor  must  put  on  over- 
shoes or  risk  a  cold  or  influenza.  That  these  are 
the  results  of  mental  conditions  is  proven  by  the 
fact  that  multitudes  of  people  have  emancipated 
themselves  from  this  servitude  by  a  change  of  mental 
habit  which  they  have  themselves  purposely  brought 
about.  If  one  person  can  do  this,  another  can; 
and  if  it  can  be  done  in  the  lesser  conditions,  it  can 
in  the  greater  also,  and  so  on  and  on  in  greater  still, 
without  limit. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  all  physical  occurrences 
are  now  within  man's  control.  The  rock  falls  on  a 
man  and  crushes  him.  The  fire  burns  him.  The 
frost  freezes  him.  The  water  drowns  him.  He 
has  submitted  himself  to  the  influences  of  the  ad- 
verse forces  of  nature  in  minor  particulars  until, 
in  these  extreme  conditions,  they  dominate  him 
utterly.  But  it  has  been  shown  by  actual  experi- 
ment that  he  is  their  master  within  a  certain  range 


300  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

of  circumstances,  and  that  he  may  still  further 
extend  the  scope  of  his  control.  In  the  light  of  the 
things  which  have  already  been  accomplished  it 
becomes  evident  that  man  shall  yet  so  understand 
the  power  of  mind  and  the  principles  on  which  it 
acts  as  to  assume  control  over  all  environment, 
and  thus  place  himself  in  the  position  set  forth  in 
the  story  of  his  creation  as  we  find  it  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  wherein  he  is  given  dominion 
over  all  the  things  of  the  earth.1 

Who  dares  to  say  what  the  conditions  will  be  when 
all  men,  as  is  their  right,  assume  absolute  control 
of  their  thinking?  It  rests  with  man  himself  to 
decide  whether  he  will  continue  to  be  the  creature 
of  his  surroundings,  moulded  and  shaped  and  di- 
rected by  them,  or  will  become  absolutely  superior 
to  the  physical  world  about  him.  This  is  a  re- 
versal of  present  and  past  opinions,  but  when 
accurate  reasoning  is  applied  to  the  principles 
which  govern  the  actions  of  mankind,  a  possibility 
of  achievement  in  overcoming  what  are  now  thought 
to  be  dominating  external  conditions  will  be  opened 
to  view,  such  as  the  wildest  visionaries  of  human 
progress  have  hardly  dared  to  contemplate.  This 
is  to  be  the  special  work  of  the  twentieth  century. 

1  Genesis  i.  26. 


XL 
EACH  IS  RESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIMSELF 

The  doctrine  that  in  the  present  social  conditions 
the  innocent  very  often  suffer  because  of  the  acts 
of  the  vicious  and  guilty  is  widely,  if  not  universally, 
accepted  as  true,  though  always  accompanied  by  a 
keen  sense  of  its  injustice.  The  proposition  under 
present  consideration  approaches  this  doctrine  from 
a  different  point  of  view.  Correct  reasoning  must 
rest  upon  accurate  statements  of  principle,  and  must 
be  followed  out  with  logical  accuracy  and  in  exact 
compliance  with  such  statements,  else  the  conclu- 
sion will  be  erroneous.  The  conclusions  reached 
by  this  exact  reasoning  may  be  in  direct  contradic- 
tion to  all  sense  perceptions;  they  may  even  be, 
seemingly,  beyond  belief;  but  this  does  not  in  any 
degree  affect  their  accuracy.  In  every  advance 
made  in  the  interpretation  of  the  principles  of 
truth  there  has  been  heard  the  cry:  "This  is  an  hard 
saying ;  who  can  bear  it  ?  " 

We  have  seen  that  thinking  is  the  first  action 
301 


302  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

arising  from  a  person's  consciousness  of  an  i  iternal 
incident  or  condition,  and  that,  whatever  its  form 
or  intensity,  it  may  be  so  perfectly  under  the  thinker's 
control  that  he  may  stop  it  instantly  in  any  stage 
of  its  progress,  and  substitute  in  its  place  that  which 
is  wholly  different  in  character  and  tendency.  We 
have  seen  that  in  every  case  the  actions  which  follow 
take  their  character  from  the  thinking;  therefore 
those  actions,  like  the  thoughts  which  produce 
them,  are  one's  own.  Thus  the  resultant  actions 
and  conditions  are  shaped  and  directed  by  the  person 
himself.  This  places  the  responsibility  for  all  one's 
actions  and  conditions,  as  well  as  for  their  conse- 
quences, wholly  upon  the  actor  himself,  and  prevents 
him  from  justly  shifting  the  responsibility  upon 
any  one  else. 

The  fact  that  men  do  not  control  their  thinking 
does  not  change  the  basic  proposition,  nor  the 
reasoning  which  has  been  applied  to  it,  nor  the  con- 
clusions arrived  at,  and  therefore  does  not  shift  the 
responsibility.  Men  can  change  their  thinking  if 
they  choose.  Whatever  the  course  pursued,  it  is  one's 
own  act  in  every  case.  The  man  who  sees  the  com- 
ing locomotive  and  does  not  get  out  of  the  way  is 
just  as  responsible  for  the  events  which  follow  as 
the  man  who  chooses  to  throw  himself  in  front  of 


EACH  IS   RESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIMSELF  303 

it.  Neither  of  them  can  rightly  charge  the  blame 
upon  the  engineer.  What  happens  to  the  man  is 
the  consequence  of  his  own  course,  because  his  own 
thinking  and  his  consequent  acting  stood  between 
the  sight  of  the  on-rushing  engine  and  the  result; 
had  his  thinking  and  actions  been  different,  the 
results  would  have  been  different  also. 

It  may  be  true  that  at  the  time  of  his  thinking 
the  man  was  ignorant  of  some  essential  condition. 
Ignorance  is  very  often  a  most  important  factor  in 
a  train  of  circumstances,  but  it  does  not  modify  the 
foregoing  position,  because  it  still  remains  that  in 
either  condition,  with  or  without  the  ignorance, 
the  action  or  the  failure  to  act  is  the  thinker's  own. 
Even  his  ignorance  is  probably  the  result  of  his 
own  course  at  some  previous  time.  The  engineer 
is  never  held  responsible  on  the  ground  that  the 
man  crossing  the  track  just  around  the  curve  did 
not  know  the  train  was  coming.  The  legal  maxim, 
old  as  law  itself,  "Ignorance  of  the  law  excuses  no 
man,"  is  an  illustration  of  the  principle,  and  it 
applies  here  as  well  as  in  purely  legal  affairs.  In- 
deed, it  would  not  apply  there  if  it  were  not  uni- 
versally true. 

Much  time  and  many  circumstances  may  intervene 
between  the  thinking  and  its  final  and  objectionable 


304  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

results ;  and  though  that  fact  may  increase  the  diffi- 
culty of  discovering  the  erroneous  thought  which 
was  really  the  cause,  yet  this  does  not  change  the 
principle  nor  its  application,  nor  does  it  shift  the 
responsibility.  It  only  emphasizes  the  necessity  for 
the  correct  solution  of  each  particular  problem  at  the 
time  it  arises. 

It  may  be  urged  that  by  the  law  of  heredity  the 
"sins  of  the  fathers  are  visited  upon  their  children. M 
Let  it  be  granted  that  this  is  so,  and  that  the  born 
cripple  is  not  himself  the  cause  of  his  own  suffering, 
nor  that  the  infant  starving  because  of  a  drunken 
parent  brought  its  miseries  upon  itself  —  indeed, 
let  it  be  granted  that  a  very  large  share  if  not  all 
the  suffering  which  comes  to  children  before  they 
have  arrived  at  the  age  of  responsibility  is  caused 
by  another,  and  that  they  are  not  responsible  for 
it  —  yet  these  facts  are  exceptions,  and  the  condi- 
tions are  exceptional.  Even  if  the  law  of  heredity 
holds,  the  principle  also  holds  that  their  condition 
is  the  result  of  thinking,  though  it  may  be  the  think- 
ing of  their  ancestors.  The  thinking  of  the  child 
begins  very  early  and  increases  rapidly,  and  so  far 
as  his  thinking  is  his  own  the  responsibility  for  it 
is  his  own  also,  so  that  when  he  has  arrived  at 
maturity   he   is   himself   responsible   for   all   those 


EACH   IS   RESPONSIBLE   FOR   HIMSELF  305 

sufferings  which  arise  from  his  erroneous  thinking. 
That  he  has  not  been  educated  in  the  principles  of 
thought  control  and  is  therefore  ignorant  of  them 
is  his  misfortune,  but  it  in  no  way  relieves  him  of 
his  responsibility.  Whatever  tendencies  a  man  may 
have  had  at  his  birth,  it  is  always  within  his  power 
afterward  to  change  those  tendencies  by  a  change 
of  thinking. 

A  proof  of  this  position  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  most 
of  the  really  great  heroes  and  reformers  of  the 
world  have  come  from  what  is  called  "the  lower 
orders."  Jesus  himself  was  not  an  exception.  He 
had  few  or  none  of  those  advantages  of  association, 
education,  training,  and  the  like,  which  are  sup- 
posed to  aid  a  man  in  his  career.  These  were 
possessed  by  the  scribes,  Pharisees,  and  priests; 
but  those  men  did  not  institute  any  reform,  though 
they  were  all  the  time  trying  to  amend  the  ways 
of  individuals  and  of  society,  and  were  the  custodians 
of  the  social  and  moral  welfare  of  their  day  and  time. 
Jesus  had  never  been  taught  in  the  schools ;  he  was 
not  even  from  "the  leading  classes  of  society"; 
yet  he  leads  the  world.  He  was  not  a  priest  edu- 
cated in  any  religion;  yet  he  enunciated  principles 
which  are  changing  and  will  continue  to  change 
the  religion  and  morals  of  the  entire  world  until 


306  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

it  shall  conform  to  his  teaching.  Is  it  urged  that 
he  possessed  supernatural  ability?  The  career  of 
Mahomet  was  similar  in  these  respects,  and  did 
he  have  the  aid  of  the  supernatural?  "Out  of  the 
ranks"  have  the  great  reformers  come. 

Since  the  earliest  days  man  has  attributed  his 
own  errors,  failures,  disasters,  and  crimes  to  what 
some  one  else  has  done  or  has  failed  to  do.  The 
almost  universal  desire  to  throw  the  blame  for 
one's  own  conduct  upon  another  seems  to  be  a 
characteristic  of  human  nature,  and  this  error  has 
provoked  a  vast  amount  of  wrong  thinking  by  which 
even  the  error  itself  has  been  maintained  and  per- 
petuated. 

The  suffering  of  the  good  wife  is  very  often  at- 
tributed to  the  wrong  actions  of  the  erring  husband ; 
but  it  was  her  own  thinking  which  brought  her  to 
her  present  situation.  We  have  seen  clearly  that 
it  is  neither  surrounding  circumstances  nor  the 
acts  of  another,  but  our  own  thinking,  which  pro- 
duces both  bodily  and  mental  conditions.  Her 
husband  may  be  a  drunkard;  and  years  ago  she 
may  have  thought,  as  many  girls  do,  that  there 
is  no  harm  in  an  occasional  glass,  or  even  that 
to  take  it  is  a  praiseworthy  exhibition  of  manly 
freedom.     She    suffers    from    his    neglect    or    even 


EACH   IS    RESPONSIBLE   FOR   HIMSELF  307 

from  his  blows  because  through  her  erroneous 
thinking,  perhaps  only  yesterday,  perhaps  years 
ago,  she  placed  herself  in  a  position  which  gave 
him  the  opportunity.  If  she  had  thought  differently, 
her  course  would  have  been  different,  and  the  evil 
that  followed  would  never  have  resulted. 

But  the  case  is  even  stronger  than  this.  Though 
the  husband  has  done  the  worst  things  possible, 
yet  her  suffering  is  from  her  own  thoughts  alone, 
because  that  is  the  order  of  nature.  She  had  the 
power  to  change  her  thinking  and  exclude  discordant 
thoughts  from  her  mind  about  him  and  his  acts, 
and  to  have  done  this  would  have  changed  her 
whole  succeeding  course  and  condition,  both  men- 
tally and  physically.  The  mental  pain  does  not 
follow  unless  there  is  permitted  in  one's  own  self 
the  mental  cause  for  it,  neither  does  the  physical 
pain  follow  the  blow  unless  the  mental  discord 
occurs  also.  This  is  the  ultimate  position,  and  it  is 
the  correct  one. 

Because  of  lifelong  habit,  the  strong  tendency  in 
such  cases  is  to  brood  over  the  unfortunate  condi- 
tions and  mentally  to  blame  and  to  condemn  the 
erring  husband  and  to  expect  nothing  better  from 
him.  In  this  way  love  soon  dies  out  of  the  heart, 
and  bitterness  takes  its  place.     If,  instead,  the  wife 


308  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

will  train  herself  to  keep  her  mind  free  from  criti- 
cism and  condemnation,  to  fill  it  with  thoughts  of 
whatever  good  she  has  recognized  in  her  husband, 
and  persistently  to  hold  fast  to  her  faith  that  he  will 
turn  back  to  the  right  and  assert  his  manhood,  she 
will  not  only  change  her  own  condition,  but  in  time 
will  reap  her  reward  in  the  reformation  of  her  hus- 
band. As  it  was  with  the  teacher  in  a  small  thing 
so  will  it  be  with  her  in  large  things.  The  law 
which  governs  the  falling  pebble  is  the  same  law 
which  controls  the  motion  of  the  earth.  She  should 
eliminate  the  discordant  thoughts  from  her  own 
mind  and  substitute  harmonious  ones  in  their 
places,  and  in  exactly  the  same  degree  in  wrhich  she 
accomplishes  this  change  in  herself  will  be  the  change 
for  the  better  in  her  husband.  An  easy  task  ?  No ; 
but  was  anything  worth  while  ever  accomplished 
without  strenuous,  persistent  effort? 

Because  few  are  willing  to  undertake  the  mental 
training  necessary  to  accomplish  this  result  does 
not  change  the  fact.  Electricity  is  the  same  to-day 
that  it  has  been  in  all  preceding  centuries,  but  it 
is  not  the  fault  of  electricity  that  men  have  not 
used  it. 

The  principle  here  set  forth  does  not  in  any  case 
exonerate  the  one  who  does  the  wrong.     The  liar, 


EACH   IS   RESPONSIBLE   FOR   HIMSELF  309 

the  thief,  the  murderer,  and  every  one  who  does 
any  evil  whatsoever  is  himself  wholly  responsible 
for  what  he  does  and  can  in  no  way  escape  the  con- 
sequences of  his  acts.  Whatever  responsibility  be- 
longs to  his  victim  is  no  excuse  for  the  one  who 
inflicts  the  wrong.  Each  alike  ought  to  avoid  his 
own  causative  acts,  and  thus  he  will  avoid  their 
consequences.  Each  is  a  sufferer;  and  his  suffer- 
ing is  from  his  own  hand,  and  upon  his  own  head, 
and  is  the  consequence  of  his  own  acts. 

Is  this  a  hard  doctrine?  No,  it  is  not,  because 
at  the  same  time  that  it  irrevocably  fixes  the  respon- 
sibility it  shows  how  the  error  and  the  suffering 
may  be  avoided.  That  the  principle  is  unchange- 
able is  its  virtue,  and  not  its  defect.  Twice  two  is 
always  four,  and  principle  always  acts  in  the  same 
way  whether  in  mathematics  or  in  morals.  It  only 
remains  for  man  to  recognize  the  principle  and 
act  in  compliance  with  it. 

The  conditions  are  the  same,  even  in  the  supreme 
illustration  of  all,  which  is  here  approached  with 
reverence.  It  is  said  that  the  sinless  Jesus  suffered 
for  the  sins  of  a  guilty  world,  and  in  one  view  of 
the  event  this  is  true.  In  another  it  is  wholly  un- 
true. His  whole  course,  including  its  culmination, 
was   the   result   of  his   own   action  —  of  his   own 


3IO  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

thinking  —  indeed,  of  his  own  deliberate  choice. 
The  temptation  in  the  wilderness  indicates  clearly 
that  he  then  recognized  the  conditions  and  saw 
that  he  might  make  himself  the  dictator  of  the 
world  instead  of  becoming  the  victim  of  the  preju- 
dices of  men.  His  public  entry  into  Jerusalem, 
only  a  week  before  his  crucifixion,  shows  that  it 
was  not  even  then  too  late  to  change  his  course, 
save  himself  from  the  cross,  and  become  the  politi- 
cal ruler  of  Judea  and  of  the  world;  and  some  of 
the  recorded  events  indicate  that  he  understood 
this  clearly,  yet  he  deliberately  chose  what  he  would 
do.  Later  still,  at  the  time  of  his  arrest,  when  he 
directed  that  all  forcible  opposition  should  cease, 
he  showed  that  he  was  following  the  course  he  had 
mentally  decided  upon  beforehand;  and  even  then 
he  might  have  reversed  all  the  subsequent  proceed- 
ings, for  he  said  to  Peter:  "Thinkest  thou  that  I 
cannot  pray  to  my  Father,  and  He  shall  presently 
give  me  more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels?"  The 
evidence  is  incontestable  that  he  could  have  avoided 
the  crucifixion.  Instead,  he  chose  it !  Then  he 
was  responsible  for  the  consequences.  When  we 
think  beyond  the  cross,  as  we  can  do  now,  and 
think  on  the  tremendous  results  for  good  which 
followed  his  choice,  made  with  full  knowledge  of 


EACH   IS    RESPONSIBLE    FOR   HIMSELF  3II 

the  consequences  to  himself,  we  may  well  be  over- 
whelmed with  awe. 

This  view  does  not  detract  in  the  least  from  its 
impressiveness.  On  the  contrary,  the  fact  that  it 
was  done  with  full  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
and  of  the  more  immediate  results,  as  well  as  with 
the  ability  to  avoid  them,  and  therefore  that  it 
was  purely  voluntary  on  his  part  and  an  act  for 
which,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he  was  himself 
wholly  responsible,  only  adds  to  its  sublimity  and 
majesty.  It  was  his  slayers  who  knew  not  what 
they  did,  and  the  true  character  of  their  action,  in 
so  far  as  it  related  to  themselves  and  to  their  respon- 
sibility for  it,  was  not  changed  by  what  he  did.  And 
yet,  the  act  was  not  in  one  slightest  degree  the  less 
efficacious  for  the  benefit  of  ignorant,  blind,  strug- 
gling, sinful  mankind.     He  did  it  for  them. 

For  ages  men  have  been  prone  to  charge  their 
sufferings  to  "the  anger  of  the  gods,"  or  to  "the 
inscrutable  purposes  of  divine  Providence,"  or  to 
"the  will  of  the  Lord."  It  has  been  demonstrated 
in  the  preceding  pages  that,  in  each  particular 
case,  as  well  as  when  viewed  from  the  larger  stand- 
point of  the  whole,  these  ills  are  the  results  of 
one's  own  thinking  and  consequent  doing.  Then  to 
charge  God  with  them  is  wholly  false.     God  did 


312  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

not  create  our  troubles  nor  did  He  inflict  them 
upon  us,  nor  did  He  make  our  erroneous  thinking 
necessary.  It  is  nothing  short  of  direct  blasphemy 
to  charge  God  with  our  ills.  They  are  the  results 
of  our  own  wrongdoing.  He  made  each  man  free 
to  think  or  not  to  think  as  he  chooses.  God  is 
good;  and  He  is  not  responsible,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  for  any  ill,  or  evil  thing,  least  of  all  for 
the  mistakes  and  sins  of  mankind,  nor  for  their 
consequent  woes.  The  briefest  consideration  of 
acknowledged  psychological  principles  will  refute 
all  such  erroneous  allegations  against  a  loving 
Father. 

Man  is  meant  for  happiness,  and  that  happiness 
is  within  his  reach.  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand"  indeed,  and  man  may  dwell  therein  if 
he  will.  Joy,  pleasure,  peace,  are  all  the  results  of 
right  thinking,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  every 
one  may  not  have  them.  The  truth,  the  beauty, 
the  grandeur,  the  inspiration,  the  unspeakable 
happiness,  are  for  every  man  and  are  obtainable  by 
him.  He  does  not  need  even  to  search  for  bliss; 
it  comes  of  itself  as  God  made  it  to  come. 


XLI 

THOUGHT  CONTROL  IS  THE  TRUE 
SELF-CONTROL 

Self-control  has  been  lauded  by  philosophers, 
moralists,  and  teachers  ever  since  the  earliest  dawn 
of  civilization.  Solomon  is  reported  to  have  said 
thousands  of  years  ago:  "He  that  ruleth  his  spirit 
is  greater  than  he  that  taketh  a  city."  Perhaps 
this  saying  was  old  even  in  his  day,  and  was  only 
a  repetition  or  an  echo  of  what  some  other  sage  had 
long  before  expressed.  Certainly  the  greatest  ruler 
of  men  is  the  man  who  rules  himself,  for  a  man 
cannot  successfully  rule  others  unless  he  also  rules 
himself.  "Self-mastery  is  the  greatest  task  to  which 
man  has  ever  set  his  hand."  Every  earnest,  sincere 
soul  has  attempted  it  and  has  experienced  both 
success  and  defeat. 

The  first  step  toward  accomplishing  any  object 
is  to  know  how.  The  principles  under  considera- 
tion point  clearly  to  the  only  method  of  attaining 
complete  self-control.  Its  secret  lies  in  control  of 
the  thinking,  because  mental  actions  originate  and 

313 


j  14  RIGHT  AND  WRONG  THINKING 

control  all  others.  In  the  words,"  Control  the  mind," 
is  condensed  all  the  wisdom,  all  the  philosophy, 
and  all  the  counsel  which  has  ever  been  given  in 
any  effort  to  help  mankind  to  acquire  self-control. 
Therein  is  the  root  of  the  whole  matter,  because 
mind  is  the  supreme  power  in  man,  and  if  the  mind 
is  controlled,  it  will  control  all  the  rest. 

Any  course  which  does  not  include  mental  con- 
trol does  not  constitute  full  self-control,  because  in 
that  case  the  most  important  factor  in  human  life 
is  ignored.  This  fact  is  not  widely  recognized,  or 
if  recognized,  it  is  not  appreciated,  for  if  men  under- 
stood the  importance  of  thinking  as  the  source  of 
all  other  actions,  they  would  perceive  this  great 
secret  of  all  true  self-control. 

Few  ethical  teachers  pay  much  attention  to  this 
point,  overlooking  it  almost  entirely  in  the  care 
given  to  the  control  of  external  actions.  They 
counsel  the  avoidance  of  erroneous  acts  and  im- 
moral deeds  and  call  that  self-control;  as,  when 
one  is  angry  they  advise  that  he  should  not  hit  his 
adversary  with  his  fist  nor  abuse  him  with  his  tongue. 
Of  course  in  this  there  is  a  fragment  of  self-control 
which  is  vastly  better  than  to  let  the  passions  have 
full  sway  in  the  actions. 

The  angry  man  who  does  not  do  the  wrong  deed 


THE    TRUE    SELF-CONTROL  315 

which  his  thoughts  prompt  is  acting  in  a  praise- 
worthy manner;  but  that  is  neither  the  best  nor  the 
most  efficient  method,  for  it  leaves  undone  the  most 
important  part  of  the  work.  It  is  control  of  only 
the  physical  part  of  the  self,  while  the  mental  goes 
on  without  attention;  this  is  repression,  but  repres- 
sion is  not  true  control.  The  thoughts  and  impulses 
of  such  a  man  have  to  be  restrained,  kept  back, 
and  resisted,  even  in  their  violence.  To  have  cast 
these  thoughts  out  of  the  mind  or  to  have  destroyed 
them  at  once  wTould  have  been  to  go  to  the  fountain 
head  of  all  activity  and  withdraw  the  poison  that 
was  polluting  the  stream.  It  would  have  been  to 
remove  the  obstructions  which  had  changed  the 
direction  of  the  stream,  and  which  had  turned  it 
into  wrong  channels.  This  would  have  been  true 
self-control,  because  control  of  the  whole,  and  it 
would  have  left  the  stream  to  go  freely  on  its  own 
right  way. 

True  self-control  does  not  consist  in  restraining 
or  resisting  the  action  which  is  wrong,  but  it  does 
consist  in  doing  that  which  removes  all  appearance 
of  necessity  for  resistance  or  restraint.  It  is  not 
muscular  control,  nor  control  of  the  will ;  but  it  is 
control  of  that  thinking  which  is  anterior  to  will, 
and  which  creates  both  choice  and  will.     In  this 


316  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

method  the  will  is  not  busied  strenuously  hold- 
ing something  in  check;  but  choice  discards  dis- 
cordant thoughts  —  drops  them  out  of  mind  —  and 
the  whole  work  is  accomplished.  One  method  is 
merely  the  act  of  choice;  the  other  requires  the 
vigorous,  perhaps  strenuous,  exercise  of  will  power. 
One  soon  releases  the  attention  and  becomes 
restful;  the  other  demands  constant  attention  and 
exhausts  the  energy.  One  is  effective  without 
weariness;  the  other  is  exhaustive  and  always  re- 
sults in  some  sort  of  failure,  often  in  disaster. 

If  discordant  thinking  is  given  free  course  with- 
out more  or  less  resistance  or  repression,  control 
of  the  actions  sooner  or  later  becomes  impossible, 
for  such  thoughts  will  ultimately  do  their  work  in 
one  way  or  another.  The  boiler  which  does  not 
furnish  opportunity  for  escape  of  the  steam  must 
burst  if  the  fire  is  kept  up,  but  it  does  not  need  a 
skilled  engineer  to  pull  the  fire  out  of  the  fire-box, 
and  then  explosion  is  impossible.  Any  man  can  do 
that ;  neither  is  the  learning  of  the  schools  necessary 
to  enable  a  man  to  stop  his  discordant  thinking 
and  thus  save  himself  from  its  disastrous  conse- 
quences. The  simplest  and  humblest  man  in  all 
the  world  can  accomplish  that  if  he  chooses  to  do  so. 

Self-control  in  its  completeness  is  really  emanci- 


THE   TRUE   SELF-CONTROL  317 

pation  from  the  control  of  all  other  things  than 
self;  that  is,  it  is  emancipation  from  the  domina- 
tion of  all  those  things  which  provoke  discordant 
thinking.  The  man  who  allows  himself  to  be 
mentally  disturbed  is  really,  to  the  extent  of  that 
disturbance,  under  the  control  of  whatever  suggested 
it,  however  entirely  he  may  fail  to  recognize  his 
condition.  To  practise  the  principle  herein  discussed 
releases  him  from  the  control  of  circumstances,  con- 
ditions, and  all  those  tendencies  within  and  with- 
out which  have  before  held  him  in  thraldom.  It 
frees  him  from  everything  except  the  necessity  of 
controlling  himself. 

As  already  shown,  this  mental  training  will  es- 
tablish such  habits  that  no  attention  need  be  given 
even  to  this  control  of  self,  because  when  the  habit 
of  any  class  of  mental  actions  is  once  set  up,  they 
move  on  automatically,  at  least  without  any  con- 
scious care  or  attention,  as  those  thoughts  do  which 
direct  the  pen  in  forming  the  letters  when  one  is 
writing.  That  would  be  freedom  from  all  control, 
even  from  self-control.  The  whole  of  this  essay 
only  shows  that,  when  it  is  complete,  " self-control," 
at  last  analysis,  is  a  misnomer,  because  when  one 
has  accomplished  it,  he  is  released  from  even  the 
control  of  himself. 


3^8  right  and  wrong  thinking 

But  the  question  may  be  asked,  would  not  such 
freedom  result  in  wrong  actions?  The  answer  is 
that  under  the  conditions  which  are  necessary  for 
the  attainment  of  such  freedom  wrong  actions 
would  be  impossible,  because  when  one  has  reached 
this  freedom  he  would  have  arrived  at  such  an  under- 
standing, and  would  have  set  up  such  mental  habits 
based  on  that  understanding,  that  there  would  no 
longer  be  any  inclination  toward  wrong.  Then 
error  would  no  longer  disturb  the  mind,  because  all 
of  it  would  have  been  cast  out  with  the  erroneous 
or  discordant  thinking.  Thus  perfect  self-control 
would  result  in  the  absence  of  all  control  whatever, 
because  of  the  absence  from  the  mind  of  every- 
thing that  would  need  to  be  controlled. 

This  is  the  freedom  of  untrammelled  childhood. 
It  is  the  freedom  of  heaven.  As  a  man  approxi- 
mates toward  this  ideal  he  departs  from  error  and 
approaches  truth,  right,  and  perfect  freedom. 


XLII 

MAN  THE  ARCHITECT  OF  HIMSELF 

It  has  been  shown  in  the  preceding  pages  that 
man  is  the  creat.ire  of  his  own  thinking,  moulded 
and  fashioned  by  it,  and  that  if  he  will,  he  may 
control  his  thinking  as  he  chooses.  Then  the  con- 
clusion is  unavoidable  and  must  be  true  in  all  its 
comprehensiveness  that,  by  control  of  his  mental 
actions,  a  man  can  make  himself  whatever  he 
chooses. 

A  glance  at  the  principles  will  show  the  accuracy 
of  this  conclusion  with  all  its  unlimited  possibilities. 
Thinking  is  the  primal  action  and  the  cause,  im- 
mediate or  remote,  of  all  other  human  actions  and 
conditions.  Man  can  control  his  thinking  abso- 
lutely. Control  of  the  cause  controls  the  result; 
but  thinking  is  the  cause;  then  by  controlling  his 
thinking  man  may  make  himself  whatever  he  will. 

It  is  true  that  complete  control  of  the  thinking  is 
at  first  dependent  upon  certain  elements  of  char- 
acter, but  character  itself  is  the  result  of  habitual 

319 


320  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

thinking,  and  therefore  it  may  be  entirely  changed 
by  appropriate  thinking;  that  is,  control  of  the 
thinking,  by  turning  it  into  new  channels,  may 
destroy  or  remove  present  elements  of  character 
and  substitute  new  ones.  This  is  merely  dropping 
out  the  objectionable  elements  and  putting  desirable 
ones  in  their  places,  which  all  depends  upon  the 
exercise  of  correct  choice  and  persistence  in  main- 
taining that  choice. 

Tremendous  as  the  results  may  be,  the  conditions 
by  which  they  may  be  attained  are  wonderfully 
simple.  As  has  been  so  often  said  in  these  pages, 
it  is  one's  own  thinking  which  produces  his  action 
and  determines  its  character.  Even  if  he  is  induced 
to  modify  his  thinking  and  change  his  opinions 
because  of  the  advice  or  argument  of  another,  yet 
such  changes  are  at  last  made  by  himself,  and  thus 
the  opinions  become  his  own. 

Change  of  character  is  not  re-formation  nor 
creation  in  the  exact  meaning  of  the  words.  It  is 
not  a  making  over  of  the  old  materials  into  some- 
thing different,  nor  is  it  a  making  of  new  materials. 
In  point  of  fact,  by  this  process  nothing  is,  of  itself, 
either  changed  or  modified.  The  whole  work  con- 
sists in  ceasing  to  do  certain  things  and  in  doing 
certain    other    things.     The    man    stops    thinking 


MAN   THE   ARCHITECT   OF   HIMSELF  32 1 

certain  thoughts  and  consequently  stops  doing 
certain  acts  of  a  corresponding  character,  and  he 
thinks  thoughts  of  another  character  and  therefore 
performs  other  acts.  A  thought  is  never  made  over 
into  another  kind  of  thought,  nor  is  any  act  ever 
made  over  into  an  act  of  some  other  kind. 

The  liar  who  stops  thinking  about  lying  cannot 
lie  any  more;  he  necessarily  tells  the  truth  because 
there  is  not  anything  else  that  he  can  do.  The 
thief  who  stops  thinking  about  stealing  cannot  steal ; 
indeed,  whatever  he  may  have  been  before,  he  is  no 
longer  a  thief;  it  was  his  thinking  that  made  him  a 
thief;  and  only  a  return  to  that  thinking  can  make 
him  a  thief  again.  If  a  man  stops  thinking  wrong- 
ful, immoral,  or  sinful  thoughts,  then  the  wrongful, 
immoral,  or  sinful  actions  cannot  occur  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, and  the  man  is  no  longer  immoral  or 
sinful.  It  is  the  same  in  all  wrongdoing.  Neither 
the  liar  nor  the  thief  has  changed  anything  either 
in  himself  or  outside  himself,  but  each  has  simply 
stopped  thinking  certain  thoughts  and  consequently 
has  stopped  doing  certain  deeds.  One  element  is 
removed  and  another  is  substituted  in  its  place. 
This  comprises  the  whole  work  of  re-formation,  or 
reformation,  so  called. 

Every  man,  if  he  will  set  himself  about  it,  may, 


322  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

by  persistent  practice,  put  any  class  of  erroneous 
thoughts  entirely  out  of  his  mind  and  thus  wholly 
destroy  that  error  so  far  as  he  is  himself  concerned. 
He  has  then  freed  himself  from  an  extraneous  some- 
thing which  was  attached  to  him  like  a  barnacle  to 
a  ship,  preventing  his  progress.  When  these  are 
all  cast  away,  the  man  will  stand  out  in  his  own 
true  character,  manifesting  his  real  self,  and  ready 
for  either  the  smooth  or  stormy  seas  which  he  may 
encounter  on  his  way. 

The  same  man  may,  with  even  less  effort,  accept 
a  true  thought  and,  by  earnest  conviction  and  con- 
stant recognition,  make  it  his  own.  It  then  becomes 
a  part  of  himself,  coloring  his  whole  life  and  making 
him  different  from  what  he  would  have  been  without 
it.  In  this  particular  he  has  literally  builded  him- 
self anew,  and  there  is  no  limit  to  a  man's  recon- 
struction of  himself  by  this  method. 

This  aspect  of  evil,  of  our  relation  to  it,  and  of  the 
method  of  its  avoidance,  eradication,  and  destruc- 
tion changes  the  entire  view  of  the  subject,  places 
it  on  a  new  basis,  and  removes  many  of  the  difficul- 
ties which  have  been  connected  with  it. 

Inherited  tendencies  are  a  barrier  to  action  in 
compliance  with  this  principle  only  in  so  far  as  they 
may  be  more  difficult  to  overcome  because  deeper 


MAN  THE   ARCHITECT   OF   HIMSELF  323 

seated  and  of  longer  standing.  They  do  not  con- 
stitute an  exception.  The  control  of  inherited 
tendencies  in  thinking  is  like  the  control  of  all  other 
thinking,  is  prosecuted  in  the  same  way,  and  may  be 
wholly  within  one's  own  power.  Whatever  their 
character  or  the  attendant  difficulties,  they  stand 
in  the  same  relation  to  the  person,  his  thinking, 
and  his  actions  as  do  all  others.  Whatever  the  in- 
heritance, it  can  be  utterly  destroyed  by  persistently 
refusing  to  think  those  thoughts  which  conduce  to 
it.  That  which  is  called  "the  disposition,"  or  any 
other  peculiarity,  however  strongly  intrenched  by 
inheritance  or  long-continued  habit,  can  be  changed ; 
objectionable  qualities  can  be  eliminated,  desirable 
ones  can  be  cultivated  and  enlarged,  and  others 
can  be  added.  There  is  not  any  predestination  nor 
any  fatality  except  as  one  makes  it  by  his  own 
thinking  or  lack  of  thinking.  This  statement  of 
the  situation  shows  the  absurdity  of  the  doctrine  of 
fatality,  at  least  when  applied  to  human  beings 
and  their  actions.  The  only  limitation  is  that  which 
one  makes  for  himself  by  his  own  thinking  or  through 
his  failure  to  control  his  thinking. 

One  person  inherits  a  tendency  toward  music 
and  cultivates  it  by  continuous  mental  application, 
resulting  in  wonderful  attainments.     A  second  per- 


324  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

son,  with  equal  initial  advantage,  follows  some 
other  course,  and  the  latent  musical  ability  is  never 
developed.  He  makes  something  else  of  himself. 
A  third,  with  less  natural  capacity  for  music,  spends 
a  lifetime  in  its  cultivation,  but  does  not  attain  the 
proficiency  of  the  first,  who  had  at  the  beginning  of 
his  career  large  advantages  derived  from  the  think- 
ing and  actions  of  his  ancestors;  yet  the  relative 
progress  of  the  third  may  be  as  great  or  even  greater. 

Two  persons  inherit  a  tendency  toward  some 
evil  course;  one  allows  his  thoughts  to  run  in  that 
direction  to  his  own  destruction,  while  the  other 
resolutely  takes  the  opposite  way  with  his  thinking 
and  makes  a  true  man  of  himself.  The  number  of 
such  instances  will  never  be  known  because  the  one 
who  corrects  his  evil  tendencies  prefers  not  to  parade 
his  earlier  defects.  There  are  not  any  "born 
criminals,"  if  by  that  term  it  is  meant  that  they 
cannot  govern  their  inherited  tendencies  and  escape 
from  them.  The  plea  of  an  inherited  tendency  is 
never  a  valid  excuse  for  an  evil  deed,  though  it  is  a 
sufficient  reason  for  the  palliation  of  man's  condemna- 
tion of  his  fellow-man,  and  also  for  holding  out  to 
him  a  helping  hand  to  steady  him  over  the  rough 
places  along  the  way  of  life. 

After    the    usual    consideration    of    inheritance, 


MAN  THE  ARCHITECT  OF  HIMSELF      325 

education,  surroundings,  and  past  indulgence,  the 
fact  remains  that  the  man's  own  thinking  is  the 
cause  of  his  actions  and  that  by  abandoning  the 
thought  the  actions  will  also  be  abandoned.  By 
this  method,  instead  of  lopping  off  the  outer  branches, 
the  axe  is  applied  to  the  root  of  the  error  and  the 
whole  is  destroyed.  When  this  is  understood,  what 
an  immense  advantage  it  will  be  to  all  mankind! 
They  will  then  soon  learn  that  it  is  far  easier  to  con- 
trol the  thoughts  than  to  control  the  actions  when 
the  thoughts  are  not  controlled  —  to  destroy  the 
root  instead  of  wasting  time  with  the  branches. 

Even  physical  conditions,  acquired  or  otherwise, 
are  the  results  of  previous  thinking,  and,  because 
they  have  been  produced  by  thinking,  changed  they 
must  be  if  a  change  in  thinking  is  persistently  con- 
tinued. Thinking  is  the  monarch  who  governs  the 
man  and  everything  connected  with  him.  The 
invisible  and  intangible  everywhere  dominate  the 
visible  and  tangible.  Invisible  gravitation  controls 
not  only  the  minute  atoms,  but  the  worlds,  the  suns, 
and  the  whole  material  universe.  A  passing  change 
of  thought  changes  the  expression  of  the  face  for 
the  moment,  and  if  the  thought  becomes  habitual, 
the  changed  expression  becomes  permanent.  So 
with   everything   else   about   the   body,   even   the 


326  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

motions  and  attitudes  in  walking,  standing,  and  sit- 
ting —  whatever  a  man  does.  The  man  is  not 
subject  to  his  features,  but  the  features  are  subject 
to  the  man,  that  is,  to  his  thinking ;  and  they  change 
as  his  character  changes  —  as  his  habit  of  thinking 
changes. 

All  varieties  of  character-reading  by  the  examina- 
tion of  external  conditions  and  actions  point  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  invisible  and  intangible  mind  which 
fashions  not  only  the  face  but  the  whole  body.  It 
is  the  same  with  each  item  in  the  whole  physical 
system,  because  all  changes  occur  in  accordance 
with  invariable  principle.  It  is  not  the  bones  of 
the  skull  that  shape  the  brain,  but  the  brain  that 
shapes  the  skull;  and,  as  it  is  mental  activity  that 
develops  and  enlarges  the  brain,  so  it  must  be  mental 
activity  that  changes  and  shapes  the  skull.  Thus 
the  mind  by  its  action  builds  the  whole  body.  By 
controlling  the  builder,  man  builds  and  fashions 
himself;   therefore  he  is  his  own  architect. 

There  is  a  preponderance  of  defective  human 
architecture  because  comparatively  few  have  recog- 
nized the  all-important  connection  between  thinking 
and  action;  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  few  who 
do  recognize  it,  doubting  the  possibility  of  success, 
do  not  make  any  attempt  to  test  the  principle;  while 


MAN  THE   ARCHITECT   OF   HIMSELF  327 

still  others,  after  a  spasmodic  effort,  are  too  indolent, 
mentally,  to  persevere. 

Man  does  not  reach  all  his  aspirations  at  a  single 
bound.  Complete  success  in  changing  the  thinking 
requires  persistent  and  perhaps  long-continued 
practice,  but  it  will  bring  results  as  permanent  as 
the  change  which  has  been  made  in  the  thinking. 
"We  build  the  stairs  by  which  we  climb,',  and  he 
who  would  build  well  the  mansion  for  his  soul 
must  be  persistent,  courageous,  and  confident. 


XLIII 
POSSIBILITY   OF  PERFECTION 

Avoidance  of  wrong  because  of  the  desire  to 
escape  its  results,  even  though  that  motive  has  been 
most  prominent  in  all  the  world's  history,  is  not  the 
highest  incentive,  for  it  is  only  a  negative  aspect  of 
the  moral  problem.  There  is  something  better. 
Doing  right  because  it  is  right  is  an  action  which 
is  positive  in  its  character;  and  to  perform  the  right 
action  without  any  thought  of  reward  and  solely 
for  the  sake  of  being  right  is  to  act  from  the  highest 
and  holiest  motive;  but  this  does  not  hinder  nor 
prevent  the  reward  which  always  follows  right  action. 

The  tree  does  not  put  forth  its  leaves  and  blossoms 
because  of  the  possible  fruit  which  may  result,  but 
it  does  certain  things  simply  for  the  sake  of  the  doing ; 
and  the  fruit  appears.  Avoidance  of  evil  thinking 
always  brings  its  natural  recompense,  and  this  rec- 
ompense is  as  much  its  normal  outgrowth  as  the 
fruit  of  the  tree;  yet  it  is  as  distinct  from  all  con- 
sideration of  price  or  wages  as  that  fruit  is.     This 

328 


POSSIBILITY   OF   PERFECTION  329 

kind  of  fruitage  is  the  most  desirable  that  man 
ever  receives  or  enjoys.  It  is  "the  Fruit  of  the 
Tree  of  Life  in  the  midst  of  the  Garden." 

Perfection  is  the  ultimate  goal  of  man's  best  and 
highest  aspiration,  but  it  is  an  attainment  for  which, 
as  yet,  men  have  hardly  dared  to  hope.  They  have 
been  taught  that  it  is  beyond  their  reach  except  as 
it  is  approached  through  the  gateway  of  death  or 
obtained  by  the  intervention  of  some  miraculous 
power;  yet,  in  a  manner  more  or  less  continuous 
and  earnest  or  hesitating  and  desultory,  every  man 
desires  to  do  better  and  to  be  better  than  he  is.  From 
this  desire  comes  the  progress  of  the  world,  for  it 
is  always  urging  men  toward  the  achievement  of 
something  better  than  what  they  now  have;  and, 
whatever  may  have  been  accomplished,  this  desire 
outruns  every  achievement  and  beckons  forward  to 
something  better  still. 

It  is  a  universal  law  that  progress  creates  the 
desire  for  still  further  progress,  as  in  mechanics 
the  improvement  of  a  machine  stimulates  its  further 
improvement.  There  may  be  lapses,  one  may  even 
go  backward  for  a  time,  but  the  desire  for  better 
things  is  as  inherent  in  the  heart  of  man  as  his  very 
existence  itself,  and  it  must  finally  become  manifest. 

Though  man  may  not  consciously  recognize  the 


330  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

full  meaning  of  this  aspiration,  yet  it  really  includes 
the  desire  for  ultimate  perfection  and  is  a  means 
for  its  accomplishment  because  it  necessitates  con- 
tinual progress  in  that  direction,  even  though  the 
progress  may  be  slow  and  irregular.  No  man  can 
be  entirely  satisfied  until  the  last  possible  ideal  has 
been  reached ;  and  this  must  ultimately  be  the  reali- 
zation of  perfection. 

To  say  that  this  perfection  is  not  within  man's 
reach  is  to  deny  the  goodness  of  God,  because  such 
a  statement  implies  that  God  has  implanted  in  man's 
nature  aspirations  toward  good  only  to  torture  him 
by  refusing  to  allow  their  fruition.  That  would  be 
a  cruel  mockery,  and  if  it  were  true,  man  would  be 
better  than  his  Creator.  But  to  say  that  perfection 
is  indeed  within  reach  of  every  one  is  to  extend  to 
mankind  that  encouragement  which  constitutes  the 
largest  possible  incentive  to  persistent  effort.  The 
infinite  Father  has  not  given  man  the  aspiration  for 
better  things  merely  to  deny  him  at  the  last.  He 
does  not  mock  His  children.  The  attainment  of 
this  goal  is  more  than  a  possibility :  it  is  a  certainty. 

The  method  of  securing  this  object  has  been 
overlooked  because  of  its  extreme  simplicity.  Per- 
sistence and  steadfastness  of  choice  in  the  right 
direction  are  all  that  is  required.     It  will  not  be 


POSSIBILITY   OF   PERFECTION  33 1 

accomplished  in  a  moment,  nor  in  a  day,  nor  a  year, 
perhaps  not  in  a  lifetime  on  this  earth,  but  man  may 
be  sure  of  its  attainment.  The  world  of  mankind 
must  go  on  in  its  progress  until  at  last,  even  on  this 
earth,  it  shall  have  gained  it.  Whenever  or  wher- 
ever these  desires  may  reach  their  fruition,  this  we 
know,  that  each  step  taken  in  that  direction,  whether 
here  or  elsewhere,  whether  now  or  hereafter,  is  a 
step  that  is  taken  forever,  and  is  just  so  much  ac- 
complished both  for  the  one  who  has  taken  that 
step  and  for  all  mankind.  The  good  each  man 
does  shines  for  all  other  men,  and  some  one  sees  it 
even  though  but  dimly. 

In  one  view  which  may  be  taken  of  man,  he  ap- 
pears to  be  an  aggregation  of  thoughts  massed  into 
one  personality  or  individuality.  This  may  not  be 
the  most  exalted  nor  the  most  comprehensive  way 
in  which  he  can  be  considered,  but  it  is  one  correct 
aspect.  On  this  basis,  if  an  analysis  of  the  mental 
elements  which  constitute  that  complex  being  whom 
we  call  man  should  be  carried  to  its  ultimate  so  as  to 
make  a  complete  separation  of  part  from  part,  the 
final  result  would  be  the  possibility  to  divide  these 
elements  into  two  classes,  one  composed  of  thoughts 
which  are  wholly  good  without  any  evil  whatever  in 
them ;  the  other  of  those  which  are  not  good  and  do 


332  RIGHT   AND   WRONG    THINKING 

not  contain  any  good  whatever.1  Every  man  may 
cast  out  of  himself  all  those  thoughts  which  are  not 
good.  By  doing  that  persistently  the  time  must 
come  when  all  such  thinking  will  have  ceased, 
leaving  only  those  thoughts  which  are  wholly  good. 
Then  must  he  manifest  perfection. 

This  simple  reasoning  is  a  complete  and  logical 
demonstration  of  the  possibility  that  man  may 
attain  perfection.  It  is  also  a  portrayal  of  the  simple 
but  sure  method  by  which  perfection  may  certainly 
be  reached.  Here  is  the  Archimedean  lever  with 
which  to  move  the  world,  and  not  the  lever  only  but 
the  fulcrum  that  Archimedes  lacked,  and,  further- 
more, the  place  on  which  the  operator  is  to  stand. 
Each  step  will  be  an  elevation  into  a  purer,  diviner 
atmosphere  and  will  itself  be  an  incentive  to  further 
effort. 

It  is  as  though  one  clothed  in  white  were  also 
enveloped  in  exterior  garments  of  black  through 
which  some  of  the  white  is  shining.  As  he  drops 
off  the  outside  garments  one  after  another,  more 
and  more  of  the  white  shines  through,  until  finally 
when  the  last  dark  garment  has  been  discarded,  only 

1  The  word  "  good  "  is  ordinarily  used  with  more  or  less  looseness 
of  meaning,  but  here  it  is  used  with  that  absolute  signification 
which  admits  of  no  comparative  degree  —  the  good  is  wholly  good; 
the  separation  is  complete;   the  not-good  has  no  good  in  it. 


POSSIBILITY   OF   PERFECTION  333 

the  pure  white  remains.  Thus,  when  the  dark 
thoughts  of  discord  and  evil  are  cast  away,  there 
remains  only  the  pure  being,  Man,  as  God,  his 
Father,  created  him. 

Because  some  sense  of  moral  right,  however  un- 
developed it  may  be,  exists  in  each  one,  therefore 
each  one  sees  a  condition  for  himself  which  he 
thinks  is  better  than  he  has  already  reached,  and  he 
also  recognizes  that  some  of  his  thoughts  are  either 
wholly  erroneous  or  at  least  contain  somewhat  of 
error.  He  is  also  conscious  that  within  himself  he 
has  the  power  to  stop  thinking  some  of  those  er- 
roneous thoughts  if  he  chooses.  Ability  to  perform 
an  action  once  means  the  ability  to  do  it  again  by 
the  exercise  of  the  same  choice  and  the  same  power, 
and  this  means  the  ability  to  do  it  every  time  it  is 
necessary.  Each  repetition  is  accomplished  with 
less  effort  than  before,  and  so  the  work  goes  on  until 
erroneous  thoughts  no  more  intrude. 

It  may  be  claimed  that  this  requires  acute  analysis 
of  one's  thoughts  and  that  the  wheat  and  the  tares 
are  so  wonderfully  alike  that  it  is  sometimes  im- 
possible, even  for  the  wisest,  who  scrutinize  most 
closely  and  see  most  clearly,  to  decide  accurately 
between  the  more  delicate  shades  of  good  and  evil 
as  they  lie  in  close  contact.     In  actual  practice  such 


334  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

nice  analysis  and  discrimination  are  not  necessary. 
A  man  has  only  to  banish  the  one  thought  which  he 
knows  to  be  discordant  or  erroneous,  and  to  do  this 
he  does  not  need  any  further  understanding.  The 
eradication  of  this  one  thought  is  the  beginning  of 
the  work,  and  this  beginning  can  be  made  at  once. 
When  that  has  been  accomplished,  and  the  habit 
of  not  thinking  that  thought  has  been  established, 
the  understanding  gained  in  the  process  will  show 
some  other  thinking  that  is  wrong,  and  the  experience 
with  the  first  thought  will  have  given  wisdom  as 
well  as  strength  to  eradicate  a  second  one.  Then 
he  will  have  clearer  and  more  definite  ideas  with 
regard  to  others  about  which  he  has  not  been  so 
decided.  It  is  only  one  at  a  time ;  but  the  removal 
of  one  reveals  another  so  long  as  there  is  one  dis- 
cordant thought  left  to  be  revealed,  and  this  course 
persevered  in  necessarily  removes  every  evil  thought 
and  leaves  at  last  only  the  absolute  good  —  that  is, 
it  leaves  only  the  perfect. 

In  practice,  therefore,  the  fact  that  it  is  now  im- 
possible to  draw  an  accurate  line,  leaving  all  the 
good  thoughts  on  one  side  and  all  the  bad  ones  on 
the  other,  is  neither  an  obstacle  to  success  nor  an 
occasion  for  delay.  Indeed,  this  inability  to  complete 
the  analysis  at  first  may  be  a  positive  advantage, 


POSSIBILITY   OF    PERFECTION  335 

especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  if  the  whole  were 
attempted  at  once,  the  magnitude  of  the  work  might 
be  overwhelming.  Besides,  it  is  easier  to  attack  the 
host  in  detail  rather  than  in  a  mass,  and  prosecution 
of  the  work  always  brings  wisdom  and  understand- 
ing as  fast  as  they  can  be  used.  The  simplicity 
arising  out  of  the  absence  of  any  need  of  nice  dis- 
crimination and  analysis,  or  of  special  educational 
or  philosophic  attainments,  or  of  the  recognition  of 
the  exact  line  accurately  dividing  the  good  from  the 
evil,  —  all  of  these  combined  constitute  one  of  the 
wonderful  conditions  of  moral  progress  which  makes 
its  pursuit  possible  for  all  mankind. 

There  is  nothing  mysterious,  nor  supernatural, 
nor  occult,  nor  anything  beyond  the  bounds  of 
natural  knowledge  in  this,  nor  does  it  require  any 
remarkable  attainment  of  wisdom,  nor  any  wonder- 
ful ability,  analytic  or  otherwise.  It  only  requires 
that  there  shall  be  the  consciousness  of  one  error, 
and  the  determination  to  avoid  it.  By  practice  we 
find  that  we  can  leave  off  that  one,  and  that  convinces 
us  that  we  can  do  the  same  with  the  next.  Each 
point  attained  is  not  only  a  positive  advantage  in 
itself,  but  also  in  the  other  fact  that  it  shows  us  that 
we  have  the  ability  to  take  the  next  step.  The  way 
is  indeed  strait,   but  it  is  simple  and  within  the 


336  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

comprehension  of  every  one.  Then  every  one  can 
walk  in  it,  for  every  one  can  change  his  thoughts 
at  least  once  in  response  to  his  own  choice,  and  when 
he  has  done  this  once,  can  do  so  a  second  time. 
This  means  that  man  may  arrive  at  the  goal  of 
absolute  perfection  because  by  choice  he  may 
change  one  of  his  thoughts  and  by  persistence  all  of 
them;  and,  if  he  will,  he  may  go  in  this  way  until 
he  no  longer  thinks  any  sinful,  immoral,  wrongful, 
erroneous,  or  discordant  thoughts,  and  when  he  has 
accomplished  this,  since  all  his  thinking  will  be  right, 
his  conduct  must  be  right  also.  When  all  men  do 
thus,  all  wrong  will  cease  to  be. 

Exalted  and  sublime  as  this  ideal  is,  it  is  eminently 
practical  and  it  should  enter  positively  into  every 
occupation  and  inspire  the  regulation  of  every  life. 
It  will  not  interfere  with  any  rightful  pursuit  nor 
hinder  efficiency  in  any  direction,  but  it  will  simplify 
and  purify  every  action.  It  will  not  make  any  man 
less  manly  nor  any  woman  less  womanly,  but  it  will 
make  each  immeasurably  better  —  the  man  more 
of  a  man  and  the  woman  more  of  a  woman  in  every 
true  relationship  of  life.  Even  if  we  advance  only 
a  little  toward  the  goal,  that  little  is  just  so  much 
surely  accomplished  for  all  time. 

This  is  an  illustration  and  elucidation  of  the  dec- 


POSSIBILITY   OF   PERFECTION  337 

laration  made  by  Jesus:1  " Whosoever  will  do  His 
will"  (whosoever  desires  to  do  right,  for  God's  will 
is  absolute  Tightness)  " shall  know  of  the  doctrine," 
or  teaching.  It  also  demonstrates  the  absolute 
accuracy  of  his  statement,  because  whosoever  will- 
eth  to  do  this,  that  is,  whosoever  really  desires  to  do 
right,  will  diligently  pursue  that  desire,  and  as  he 
progresses  will  also  progress  in  his  recognition  of 
what  is  right  (" shall  know  of  the  doctrine"),  and, 
knowing  that,  shall  know  how  to  attain  it.  Many 
have  failed  because  they  were  self-deceived  into 
thinking  they  were  desiring  to  do  right  (to  do  God's 
will)  when,  in  fact,  they  sought  only  the  accomplish- 
ment of  their  own  erroneous  wishes.  They  did  not 
seek  the  right  regardless  of  all  other  things,  there- 
fore they  failed ;  but  even  if  they  did  fail,  that  fail- 
ure was  only  for  a  time,  for  ultimately  they  will  see 
their  mistake  and  correct  it.  There  is  never  a  fail- 
ure that  is  not  followed  by  the  possibility  of  some- 
thing better  than  went  before.  The  desire  for  better 
things  survives  all  failure  and  demands  effort  toward 
their  attainment,  and  that  desire  will  never  cease  to 
urge  one  on  until  the  object  is  reached. 

The  traveller  often  approaches  a  point  in  his  jour- 
ney beyond  which  he  cannot  see  his  way,  a  place 

1  John  vii.  16. 


338  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

where  all  things  seem  to  end ;  yet  always  as  soon  as 
he  reaches  that  point,  the  vista  opens,  and  he  finds 
the  path  for  his  feet  stretching  farther  out  into  the 
distance.  His  foot  is  never  planted  on  the  last  spot 
within  his  vision  without  his  being  able  to  see  the 
place  beyond  for  another  step.  It  may  be  only  a 
very  little  way,  and  it  may  be  either  to  the  right  or 
to  the  left,  but  the  light  shines  on  the  path  a  little 
in  advance;  and  when  one  who  is  really  striving 
after  the  right  shall  reach  that  which  seems  to  be 
the  last  point  before  him,  there  will  then  come  a 
new  gleam  lighting  up  the  way  still  farther  on.  This 
is  the  helpful  element  in  all  ideals.  They  are  al- 
ways in  advance  of  present  accomplishment,  and 
when  once  attained  new  and  better  ones  always  dis- 
close themselves. 

The  man  who  is  in  earnest,  who  seeks  right  for 
its  own  sake  and  not  for  any  less  worthy  object,  who 
dares  to  abandon  former  opinions  for  better  ones 
newly  perceived,  and  who  dares  to  do  the  right,  can 
always  see  the  way  to  at  least  one  point  farther. 
The  danger  lies  in  not  daring  and  therefore  not  do- 
ing. There  is  no  occasion  for  discouragement.  We 
know  better  than  we  do,  and  because  we  know  better 
than  we  do,  next  time  we  can  do  better  than  we  have 
done  this  time.     An  ideal  attained  always  reveals 


POSSIBILITY   OF   PERFECTION  339 

another  and  diviner  possibility.  Each  is  a  bow  of 
promise  beckoning  onward.  God  has  arranged  it 
so  in  the  beautiful  order  of  His  creation. 

Man  has  vainly  sought  the  fountain  of  youth  in 
things  outside  of  himself.  It  is  within.  "The  in- 
ner joys  and  virtues  are  the  essential  part  of  life's 
business,"  and  if  these  are  not  obstructed  by  the 
weeds  and  briers  of  discordant  thinking,  they  will 
flower  most  beautifully  and  fruit  most  bountifully 
in  all  outward  actions  —  and  in  life  eternal. 

Every  man  has  the  divine  spark  within  himself. 
He  will  never  be  without  a  guide  to  his  actions  if  he 
will  only  follow  as  far  as  he  can  see  in  the  direction 
toward  absolute  right.  He  need  not  wait,  but  may 
at  once  begin  his  journey,  filled  with  the  certainty  of 
at  last  reaching  the  pinnacle  of  success  in  the  goal 
of  perfection.  Even  when  perfection  is  achieved, 
though  the  difficulties  and  toils  of  the  way  are  all 
behind  him,  he  will  find  before  him  all  the  beauty  and 
glory  of  God's  infinite  universe  of  absolute  and  per- 
fect good  in  its  limitless  diversity.  In  this  field  a 
man  can  never  lack  objects  of  interest  for  the  exer- 
cise of  his  choice  and  the  expenditure  of  his  activity, 
because  the  variety  of  God's  good  is  as  infinite  as 
His  creation,  and  man's  progress  will  be  from  glory 
to  glory  throughout  endless  duration. 


XLIV 
THE  TEACHING   OF   JESUS 

Thus  far  the  subject  has  been  discussed  from 
scientific,  philosophic,  ethical,  and  moral  points  of 
view,  but  it  will  be  incomplete  if  dismissed  without 
some  consideration  of  its  relation  to  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  the  Christ.  To  some  minds  this  will  appear 
important,  to  others  perhaps  it  will  seem  to  be  only 
a  repetition  of  statements  already  made,  while  those 
who  have  never  examined  it  in  this  aspect  may  find 
in  his  teaching  a  phase  not  before  suspected. 

The  moral  and  religious  features  of  the  work  of 
Jesus  so  eclipse  all  others  that  he  is  seldom  thought 
of  as  a  philosopher  or  a  scientist.  It  is  the  more 
general  opinion  that  he  promulgated  certain  rules 
for  the  guidance  of  mankind  in  their  personal  and 
social  relations,  but  more  especially  in  their  reli- 
gious duties,  whereby  they  may  attain  more  har- 
monious conditions,  greater  morality,  higher  spirit- 
uality, and  therefore  more  peace  and  happiness 
here,  and  possibly  eternal  bliss  hereafter.     Those 

340 


THE   TEACHING   OF   JESUS  341 

who  hold  this  opinion  think  that  he  did  his  work 
without  the  aid  of  philosophy  or  science  and  without 
any  of  the  arts  of  the  logician ;  hence  they  suppose 
that  he  held  such  matters  more  or  less  in  contempt, 
and  that  there  is  no  connection,  association,  nor 
relationship  between  his  utterances  and  those  of 
philosophy  and  science.  Indeed,  scarcely  a  genera- 
tion ago  it  was  stoutly  declared  that  science  and  re- 
ligion were  in  open  conflict;  nor  is  it  so  very  long 
since  the  opinion  was  widely  prevalent  that  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  is  without  system,  and  that  it  con- 
sists of  independent,  disjointed  declarations,  having 
little  or  no  connection  with  one  another,  and  some- 
times, if  not  often,  contradictory  —  an  opinion  which 
has  not  yet  wholly  disappeared. 

That  there  is  a  basic  system,  either  philosophic  or 
scientific,  on  which  rests  all  that  Jesus  said  and  did, 
would  be  emphatically  denied  by  many  who  think 
themselves  his  devoted  followers.  They  venerate 
his  words  as  the  arbitrary  edict  of  a  god,  and  they 
think  that  any  other  theory  concerning  them  or  him 
would  detract  from  the  authority  of  his  utterances 
and  the  sublimity  of  his  position.  They  would  con- 
sider it  degrading  to  suppose  that  his  rules  for  con- 
duct are  permeated  by  scientific  truths,  and  still 
more  so  to  suppose  that  the  authority  of  his  utter- 


342  RIGHT  AND   WRONG   THINKING 

ances  could  be  strengthened  by  any  recognition  oi 
their  relationship  to  philosophic  or  scientific  prin- 
ciples. 

It  is  most  assuredly  true  that  Jesus  did  not  elabo- 
rate any  philosophic  theory  whatever,  nor  did  he 
make  any  pretence  to  a  systematic  or  scientific  ar- 
rangement of  his  subjects,  nor  did  he  make  any  ap- 
peal to  men's  reasoning  faculties  by  the  use  of  logical 
formulas.  It  is  one  of  his  strongly  marked  pecu- 
liarities that  in  most  cases  he  merely  cast  his  state- 
ments in  the  axiomatic  form  and,  without  argumen- 
tation, left  their  accuracy  and  truth  to  be  perceived 
by  the  same  means  that  the  truth  of  the  axiom  is 
perceived. 

His  complete  abnegation  of  self,  his  exact  com- 
pliance with  the  rules  that  he  promulgated,  his 
measureless  love  for  all  men,  even  for  his  enemies, 
—  these  have  moved  men  to  become  his  followers 
and  have  taken  possession  of  their  hearts  and  minds 
to  the  exclusion  of  other  things.  This  ceases  to  be 
a  wonder  when  we  consider  how  far  he  transcends 
all  others  in  these  characteristics. 

Granting  the  most  extreme  claims  that  have  been 
put  forth  regarding  his  divinity,  still,  if  those  claims 
are  true,  —  even  because  they  are  true,  —  his  utter- 
ances must  be  in  accord  with  the  absolute  basic 


THE   TEACHING   OF   JESUS  343 

truths  of  existence;  and  science  and  philosophy  at 
their  best  are  only  attempts  to  set  forth  and  explain 
the  facts  of  existence,  which  are  the  divine  truths  of 
God  as  manifested  in  the  things  about  us.  The 
ultimate  facts  of  existence  and  the  knowledge  and 
explanation  of  them,  so  far  as  this  knowledge  and 
explanation  are  accurate,  must  constitute  the  only 
correct,  enduring,  and  elemental  basis  of  either  sci- 
ence or  philosophy,  and  equally  so  of  religion.  All 
truths,  by  whatever  name  they  may  be  called,  must 
rest  at  last  upon  this  basis  and  must  be  made  up  of 
these  elements;  therefore  each  must  be  an  expres- 
sion of  its  portion  of  one  entirely  harmonious  whole, 
and  consequently  they  must  all  be  so  linked  together 
in  unity  as  to  constitute  a  perfect  system. 

If  this  is  the  condition,  then  it  must  be  possible  to 
make  such  an  examination  of  the  utterances  of  Jesus 
as  to  discover  their  basis  in  the  fundamental  truths 
of  correctly  stated  science  and  also  to  find  their  expla- 
nation in  the  principles  of  sound  and  enduring  phi- 
losophy. The  world  may  not  be  ready  to  accept 
this  proposition  now,  because  the  statements  of  nei- 
ther science,  nor  philosophy,  nor  religion  are  yet 
either  without  deficiency  or  without  flaw.  When 
they  are  so,  it  will  be  possible  to  see  that  the  connec- 
tion between  each  part  and  every  other  part,  which 


344  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

at  present  appears  broken,  is  complete,  and  that 
each  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  all  the  others.  Then 
it  will  be  possible  to  show  to  the  whole  human  race 
the  most  powerful  and  convincing  reasons  for  the 
existence  of  Jesus'  precepts,  and  the  supreme  rea- 
son why  they  should  be  obeyed.  This  will  im- 
mensely enhance  the  value  of  those  precepts  in  the 
eyes  of  those  who  look  to  reason  rather  than  to 
authority,  and  it  will  not  detract  in  the  slightest  from 
the  veneration  and  allegiance  of  those  who  accept 
him  chiefly  on  the  basis  of  his  deific  authority,  while 
it  will  furnish  both  classes  with  abundant  reason 
why  his  words  are  as  the  words  of  God. 

An  examination  will  show  that  the  principles  set 
forth  in  the  preceding  pages  are  inherent  in  the  con- 
stitution of  man  as  he  has  been  fashioned  by  his 
Creator,  and  an  application  of  them  to  the  ethical 
rules  which  Jesus  gave  to  mankind  for  the  guidance 
of  human  conduct  in  the  affairs  of  social  life  will 
show  that  those  rules  rest  for  their  foundation  and 
reasonableness,  some  wholly,  others  in  part,  upon 
these  principles.  Because  those  rules  are  in  accord 
with  immutable  principle,  they  are  scientific  in  the 
full  meaning  of  the  word,  and  they  are  as  exact  and 
universal  within  their  domain  as  are  the  rules  of 
mathematics  in  the  domain  of  that  science.     Thus 


THE   TEACHING   OF   JESUS  345 

considered,  these  scientific  principles  furnish  an  ex- 
planation of  his  rules  and  an  elucidation  of  their 
character  which  will  make  them  better  understood 
and  which,  without  depriving  them  of  a  particle  of 
their  authority  and  sacredness,  but  instead  adding 
to  both,  will  remove  them  forever  from  the  domain 
of  arbitrary  domination  and  dictation  where  they 
have  so  long  stood  in  the  minds  of  many. 

Some  may  sneer  and  say  that  this  would  place 
ethics  and  morality  among  the  exact  sciences;  but, 
in  view  of  the  inextricable  confusion  and  contradic- 
tions among  the  opinions  now  held  regarding  these 
subjects,  even  those  who  sneer  must  admit  that  if 
such  a  result  could  be  achieved,  it  would  be  ex- 
ceptionally desirable.  There  must  be  fundamental 
principles  in  morals  as  well  as  in  mathematics  if 
human  beings  are  not  a  congeries  of  haphazard  hap 
penings,  but  are  created  or  developed  in  accordance 
with  principle;  and  there  must  be  a  true  science  of 
morals  just  as  there  is  of  mechanics,  and  that  sci- 
ence must  be  just  as  exact  in  its  principles  and  just 
as  inflexible  in  its  multifarious  applications.  Each 
step  toward  the  elucidation  of  that  science  must  be 
as  much  more  valuable  than  the  earlier  discoveries 
in  the  natural  sciences  and  mathematics  as  morals  are 
of  more  importance  to  mankind  than  are  mechanics. 


346  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

The  basis  on  which  so  many  of  Jesus'  rules  rest  for 
their  foundation  is  not  anywhere  stated  in  more 
directly  scientific  terms  than  in  what  he  says  of 
adultery.  He  recognizes  the  wisdom  and  validity 
of  the  old  law  prohibiting  the  crime,  but  he  sees  also 
that  the  scope  of  the  law  is  too  limited.  As  inter- 
preted before  his  day  it  included  only  that  part  of 
the  crime  which  is,  so  to  speak,  above  ground,  but 
it  did  not  interfere  with  the  root  from  which  it  springs, 
the  thoughts  which  precede  and  produce  the  act. 
For  the  destruction  of  a  plant,  not  only  must  the 
top  be  cut  off,  which  the  law  already  attempted  to 
do,  but  the  root  which  nourishes  the  top  must  be 
dug  up  and  destroyed.  If  the  thoughts  which  pro- 
duce the  crime  are  allowed  to  continue,  the  outward 
and  visible  actions  are  liable  to  appear  with  renewed 
vigor  regardless  of  the  prohibition.1 

These  statements  are  scientific;  Jesus  quotes  the 
law  approvingly  and  then,  because  of  these  scien- 
tific reasons,  he  adds:  "Whosoever  looketh  on  a 
woman  to  lust  after  her,"  that  is,  whosoever  thinks 
adulterous  thoughts  about  her,  "hath  committed 
adultery  with  her  already,"  2  thus  so  interpreting  the 

1  Lao  tsze  says:  "Not  contemplating  what  kindles  desire  keeps 
the  heart  unconfused." 
1  Matthew  v.  27-30. 


THE   TEACHING   OF   JESUS  347 

terms  of  the  law  as  to  include  in  its  prohibition 
not  only  the  crime  but  all  those  thoughts  which 
contribute  to  it  and  produce  it.  He  does  not  de- 
stroy the  law,  but  by  his  interpretation  he  com- 
pletes it.  Compliance  with  what  might  be  called 
his  addition  to  the  law  would  render  the  law  useless 
as  it  stood  before  he  made  that  addition,  because 
the  offence  against  which  the  law  aimed  cannot 
occur  if  the  thought  which  would  cause  the  offence 
has  been  excluded  from  the  mind.  His  interpreta- 
tion of  the  law  thus  becomes  the  vital  part  of  the 
prohibition. 

His  position  in  this  case  rests  for  its  validity  upon 
two  distinct  points:  First,  thinking  is  the  cause  of 
the  act ;  second,  if  the  cause  is  removed  by  ceasing 
to  think  the  thought,  then  that  which  would  be  the 
consequence  of  such  thinking  cannot  occur  and  the 
act  cannot  be  committed;  therefore  his  prohibition 
of  adulterous  thinking  is  strictly  scientific,  finding 
the  reason  for  its  existence  in  pure  science. 

Jesus  follows  the  simple  statement  of  his  proposi- 
tion with  the  two  tremendous  illustrations  of  the 
hand  and  the  eye:  "If  thy  right  eye  offend  thee, 
pluck  it  out  and  cast  it  from  thee."  Whatever  other 
meaning  these  metaphorical  words  may  convey, 
they  surely  indicate  that  whenever  one's  thought  is 


348  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

the  cause  of  his  wrong  actions,  though  it  may  seem 
to  him  as  desirable  as  his  eye  or  his  hand,  that 
thought  is  to  be  plucked  out  or  cut  off  and  as  utterly 
cast  away  as  the  eye  or  the  hand  might  be.  This 
also  is  as  strictly  scientific  as  his  interpretative  addi- 
tion to  the  law. 

Thus  we  see  that  his  words  in  this  instance  rest 
for  their  basis  on  sound  psychological  principles  as 
modern  science  has  discovered  and  explained  them. 
His  form  of  expression  has  the  characteristics  of  an 
exact  statement  of  scientific  principle,  viz.  accuracy 
and  absence  of  modification  or  exception.  All  this 
removes  the  precept  from  the  charge  of  being  mere 
dictatorial  domination,  vindicates  its  claim  to  scien- 
tific character,  and,  because  there  cannot  be  any 
more  exception  to  this  rule  than  to  a  rule  in  mathe- 
matics, it  is  at  least  one  step  toward  placing  morality 
among  the  exact  sciences. 

What  Jesus  says  about  murder  is  similar  in  char- 
acter. The  law  prohibited  killing.1  Anger  is  the 
root  of  murder  as  lust  is  the  root  of  adultery.  When 
cultivated  and  intensified,  anger  finds  its  final  ex- 
pression and  natural  result  in  murder.  Jesus  affixed 
the  same  penalty  to  unexpressed  anger  that  the  law 
affixed  to  murder,  thus  placing  the  unuttered  thought 

1  Matthew  v.  21-24. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  349 

which  might  cause  murder  under  the  same  prohibi- 
tion as  murder  itself.  Thus,  in  full  accord  with  the 
scientific  proposition,  he  makes  the  thought  (the 
cause)  the  essential  thing,  for  without  it  there  would 
not  be  any  consequence.  Having  dealt  with  the 
cause,  he  has  no  occasion  to  deal  with  consequences, 
because  without  causes  there  would  not  be  any  con- 
sequences; therefore  for  murder  itself  he  expresses 
neither  prohibition  nor  penalty,  and  this,  again,  is  ex- 
actly scientific.  When  all  anger  is  excluded  from  the 
mind  there  will  not  be  any  murder.  His  method  in 
this  is  the  same  that  he  pursued  in  his  discussion  of 
adultery  and  is  equally  scientific.1 

The  completeness  with  which  Jesus  would  have 
us  exclude  anger  from  our  minds  is  shown  in  his 
metaphorical  statement:  "Therefore  if  thou  bring 
thy  gift  to  the  altar,  and  there  rememberest  that  thy 
brother  hath  aught  against  thee;  leave  there  thy 
gift  before  the  altar,  and  go  thy  way ;  first  be  recon- 
ciled to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and  offer  thy 
gift."  Note  here  that  the  person  addressed  is  not 
directed  to  do  anything  with  his  brother.     His  sole 

1  The  same  principle  is  observed  in  the  practice  in  criminal 
courts  where  it  is  held  of  the  first  importance  to  prove  the 
"  motive,"  or  the  mental  state  which  caused  the  act;  only  they  use 
it  to  assist  in  establishing  the  guilt  of  the  person,  he  used  it  to 
prevent  the  guilty  action. 


350  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

offence  consists  in  the  fact  that  he  remembers  that 
his  brother  has  something  against  him,  and  the  one 
thing  for  him  to  do  is  himself  to  become  "  recon- 
ciled" to  his  brother.  The  literal  definition  of  the 
Greek  word  here  rendered  "be  reconciled"  is  "be 
changed  throughout."  Then  he  must  not  only  put 
anger  out  of  his  own  mind,  but  he  must  do  this  so 
completely  as  not  to  remember  that  his  brother  has 
anything  against  him.  When  he  has  done  this,  he 
is  "changed  throughout."  This  is  complete  exclu- 
sion of  discordant  thinking. 

His  precept,  "  Judge  not,"1  is  of  the  same  sort,  and 
equally  scientific.  Judgment  is  almost  universally 
considered  necessary  and  praiseworthy ;  yet  any  one 
who  analyzes  mental  conditions  must  recognize 
that  condemnation  is  the  discordant  mental  begin- 
ning of  very  much  that  is  wrong.  Condemnation 
of  others  has  been  both  the  cause  and  the  justifica- 
tion of  the  worst  acts  of  humanity,  including  murder, 
war,  and  butchery  generally.  Each  atrocity  or  out- 
rage has  resulted  from  the  condemnation  of  one  man 
by  another  because  of  something  that  one  has  done 
or  has  failed  to  do,  and  each  war  has  been  caused 
by  similar  condemnation  of  one  nation  by  another. 

1  Matthew  vii.  1-5.  The  Greek  word  which  is  here  rendered 
"judge"  is  also  elsewhere  translated  "condemn." 


THE   TEACHING   OF  JESUS  35 1 

All  judgment,  or  condemnation,  exists  first  in  thought 
before  it  can  find  expression  in  either  words  or  deeds. 
The  condemnatory  thought  is  discordant,  therefore 
on  scientific  grounds  alone,  considering  the  purposes 
of  health  without  regard  to  any  question  of  morals, 
condemnation  ought  to  be  excluded  from  the  mind. 
But  this  proposition  applies  in  an  equally  scientific 
way  to  morality,  and  as  morals  are  the  more  im- 
portant, there  is  so  much  the  greater  reason  why 
Jesus  should  say,  "Judge  not,"  and  it  is  equally  a 
scientific  necessity  that  his  requirement  should  be, 
as  it  is,  so  sweeping  as  to  prohibit  all  such  thoughts. 

If  the  precept  of  Jesus  concerning  anger  is  com- 
plied with  in  the  perfect  way  indicated  by  the  case 
of  the  man  bringing  his  gift  to  the  altar,  then  this 
one  relating  to  judgment  becomes  unnecessary,  be- 
cause when  the  recognition  of  an  offence  has  been  so 
completely  thrust  out  of  mind  that  one  is  no  longer 
aware  that  another  has  anything  against  him,  there 
cannot  be  any  condemnation  or  judgment.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  one  does  not  judge  (condemn),  there 
will  not  be  any  anger.  In  this  way  do  Jesus'  pre- 
cepts work  together  and  harmonize,  each  aiding 
toward  compliance  with  the  others. 

His  precept,  "Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow,"  * 

1  Matthew  vi.  34. 


352  RIGHT  AND   WRONG   THINKING 

has  been  looked  upon  as  unreasonable  if  not  impos- 
sible. "Take  no  anxious  thought  for  the  morrow," 
is  the  rendering  in  the  Revised  Version,  and  if  this 
is  accepted,  even  those  who  object  most  strongly  to 
the  rule  as  expressed  by  the  earlier  translation  must 
acknowledge  that  as  it  appears  in  the  later  form  it 
is  reasonable,  wise,  and  practicable ;  and  it  then  be- 
comes another  instance  of  a  rule  resting  on  scientific 
principles  for  its  foundation.  Anxiety  is  a  form  of 
discordant  thinking,  and  the  conditions  of  exact  sci- 
ence require  its  exclusion  from  the  mind,  just  as  set 
forth  by  Jesus'  precept. 

Perhaps  in  no  place  has  failure  to  understand  him 
been  greater  than  in  connection  with  his  precept, 
"Resist  not  evil,"  which,  in  part,  rests  on  the  same 
scientific  foundation  as  his  propositions  already  con- 
sidered. This  rule  is  a  practical  continuation  into  a 
more  general  form  of  his  precepts  concerning  anger, 
the  recognition  that  one's  brother  has  something 
against  him,  and  the  one  respecting  judgment  or 
condemnation.  Whoever  complies  with  these  in 
their  fulness  will  not  violate  this  one,  for  he  will  not 
allow  his  mind  to  be  occupied  either  by  thoughts  of 
the  wrong  done  him,  or  by  anger,  or  by  condemna- 
tion. Harboring  thoughts  of  wrong  at  once  arouses 
condemnation  and  anger,  and  from  these  comes  the 


THE   TEACHING   OF   JESUS  353 

impulse  to  defend  one's  self  and  to  punish  the  of- 
fender —  to  resist  the  evil ;  but  if  these  are  not 
allowed,  then  the  desire  to  resist  will  not  arise. 

Unnumbered  centuries  of  practice  contrary  to  these 
precepts  have  made  compliance  with  them  seem 
ineffective,  unmanly,  or  cowardly ;  yet  evil  has  never 
diminished  in  consequence  of  such  methods.  From 
a  little  brand  which  at  first  could  have  easily  been 
extinguished  by  right  mental  control  conflagrations 
have  developed  which  have  brought  ruin  and  deso- 
lation in  their  wake.  Hatred,  bitterness,  blighting 
of  homes  and  lives,  legal  strife,  murders,  wars,  and 
all  forms  of  outrage  and  wickedness  have  grown 
from  small  beginnings  which  would  have  disap- 
peared instantly  by  compliance  with  these  precepts. 

His  own  course  is  the  most  brilliant  example  of 
the  wisdom  of  this  precept.  He  did  not  resist  evil 
under  the  severest  provocations  of  illegal  arrest  on 
false  charges,  trial  before  prejudiced  judges  who  had 
decided  beforehand  that  he  must  die,  and  execu- 
tion by  the  same  authority  which  had  declared  him 
innocent.  The  result  is  an  ever  widening  and  deep- 
ening stream  of  influence  which  has  gone  on  through 
all  the  centuries  since,  and  which  shall  continue 
through  the  centuries  to  come,  until  all  error  has 
disappeared  from  among  men. 


354  RIGHT   AND   WRONG   THINKING 

In  the  language  of  the  old  Hebrew  lawgiver: 
"Thus  shall  ye  put  away  evil  from  among  you;" 
and  in  no  other  way  can  the  putting  away  be  so 
thoroughly  accomplished  as  by  obeying  his  precept, 
"Resist  not  evil."  The  influence  of  the  one  who 
obeys  this  is  not  limited  to  himself  alone.  The  power 
of  his  good  thought  extends  even  to  the  enemy,  and 
it  will  soon  begin  its  work  of  transformation  in  his 
mind.  Like  the  rays  of  the  sun,  the  thought  which 
causes  one  to  refrain  from  resistance  in  the  way 
that  he  ought,  penetrates  the  darkest  places,  de- 
stroying the  noxious  germs  of  enmity,  bitterness, 
and  strife. 

Ruskin  said:  "There  is  no  music  in  a  rest,  but 
there's  the  making  of  music  in  it;"  so,  too,  non- 
resistance  of  evil  is  a  rest  in  which  there  is  the  mak- 
ing of  that  celestial  music  which  is  an  expression  of 
the  divine  harmony. 

The  advantage  of  harmonious  thinking  is  sci- 
entifically set  forth  in  the  Beatitudes.1  The  meek, 
the  merciful,  they  who  do  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness,  and  the  peacemakers  have  each  dis- 
missed some  form  of  discordant  thinking,  and  they 
are  among  the  blessed.  Their  blessedness  is  the 
result  of  their  mental  condition.     The  climax  oc- 

1  Matthew  v.  2-12. 


THE  TEACHING   OF  JESUS  355 

curs  in  what  he  says  of  the  pure  in  heart,  "for  they 
shall  see  God."  Purity  of  heart  can  only  be  at- 
tained by  the  complete  exclusion  of  every  impure  or 
discordant  thought,  and  they  who  have  attained  this 
have  already  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within  them, 
and  God  dwells  in  His  kingdom  and  they  shall  see 
Him.     This,  too,  is  strictly  scientific. 

His  precepts  touching  forgiveness  rest  on  the  same 
basis.  The  word  "  forgive  "  means  to  let  go,  to  put 
away,  to  cast  out,  to  send  away;  and  this  is  the 
meaning  not  only  of  the  English  word,  but  of  the 
Greek  word  of  which  it  is  a  translation.  The  es- 
sential of  forgiveness,  then,  lies  in  casting  out  of  the 
mind  the  wrong  or  offending  thought.  He  would 
have  us  always  forgive  1  as  we  would  be  forgiven.3 
Each  one  who  earnestly  desires  forgiveness  knows 
that  he  himself  wishes  to  have  the  last  remembrance 
or  thought  of  the  error  which  he  has  committed  put 
away  and  blotted  out  forever  from  the  mind  of  the 
one  whom  he  has  offended ;  therefore  this  complete 
casting  away  of  all  the  discordant  thoughts  about 
another  is  the  essential  constituent  element  of 
complete  forgiveness.  It  is  also  required  by  the 
principles  of  exact  science  as  well  as  by  the  words 
of  Jesus  found  in  other  connections. 

1  Matthew  xviii.  21 ,  22.  2  Matthew  vi.  12. 


356  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

This  leads  to  a  consideration  of  the  Golden  Rule, 
"As  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also 
to  them  likewise,"  '  a  precept  which  includes  within 
its  terms  all  his  ethical  teaching.  Down  in  the 
heart  of  every  human  being  is  the  desire  not  only 
to  be  exempt  from  physical  injury  by  others,  but  also 
from  their  evil  or  erroneous  thoughts  as  well.  If 
each  one  should  avoid  discordant  thinking  about  all 
others  as  he  would  have  others  avoid  it  about  him- 
self, it  would  terminate  all  discordant  or  erroneous 
thinking  of  every  kind,  and  therefore  all  discordant 
conduct  would  be  ended.  There  would  not  be  any 
evil  in  the  world,  and  its  banishment  would  be 
accomplished  without  any  resistance  whatever ; 
indeed,  resistance  of  evil  prevents  forgiveness, 
perpetuates  evil,  and  frustrates  the  grand  object 
sought,  which  is  its  destruction.  This  is  again 
the  application  of  exact  science  to  questions  of 
morality. 

When  the  lawyer  asked  Jesus  which  is  the  great- 
est requirement  of  the  law,  he  answered:  "Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with 
all  thy  strength." 2  God  is  absolute  perfection. 
When  a  man  loves  perfection  with  all  his  heart,  and 

1  Luke  vi.  31.  2  Mark  xii.  30. 


THE   TEACHING   OF   JESUS  357 

soul,  and  mind,  and  strength,  there  will  not  be 
any  place  for  inharmonious  thoughts.  God  is 
love;  and  when  one  loves  love  with  his  whole 
being,  he  will  not  have  any  discordant  thoughts, 
for  in  such  love  and  in  such  loving  there  is  no 
discord.  All  this  means:  Fill  the  mind  full  with 
love  for  God,  and  when  the  mind  is  full  of  this 
love,  neither  imperfection  nor  discord  can  enter,  but 
they  will  be  as  a  dream  of  the  night  which  was 
never  remembered. 

All  this  finds  its  culmination  in  what  may  appro- 
priately be  called  the  climax  of  his  ethical  precepts, 
the  one  which  directs  men  to  the  supreme  act  of 
love:  "But  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  enemies."1 
Love  is  perfect  harmony.  Hate  is  discord.  Be- 
fore one  can  love  his  enemies,  condemnation,  anger, 
hate,  desire  for  revenge,  envy,  jealousy,  covetous- 
ness,  and  even  "righteous  indignation"  toward  them, 
must  all  be  utterly  cast  out  of  the  mind  along  with 
every  other  inharmonious  thought.  The  precept 
necessitates  this  exclusion,  because  all  these  are 
inimical  to  love  and  cannot  exist  in  the  mind  where 
love  is,  nor  can  love  exist  in  the  mind  where  these 
discordant  thoughts  are.  Love  and  hate  cannot 
both  occupy  the  same  mind  at  the  same  time.  The 
1  Matthew  v.  44-48. 


358  RIGHT  AND  WRONG   THINKING 

exclusion  of  hate  is  the  preparation  for  love,  and 
the  entertainment  of  love  is  the  prohibition  of  hate; 
hence  this  precept  also  stands  on  a  basis  which  is 
distinctly  scientific. 

The  language  which  he  used  in  this  connection, 
when  stripped  of  its  explanatory  illustrations,  reads 
thus :  — 

i.   "  Love  your  enemies. 

2.  "That  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father 
in  heaven. 

3.  "Ye  therefore  shall  be  perfect  even  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  ' 

That  love  which  loves  enemies  has  nothing  but 
love  for  any  man.  This  means  the  exclusion  of 
every  discordant  thought.  The  result  of  this  ex- 
clusion will  be  perfection.  Perfection  is  a  dizzy 
height  for  man  to  contemplate.  The  best  men  have 
looked  toward  it,  but  have  not  dared  to  hope  for  it, 
either  for  themselves  or  their  fellows,  except  as  the 
result  of  a  miracle ;  and  the  scientists,  philosophers, 

1  This  is  the  language  of  the  Revised  Version  and  is  almost 
universally  admitted  to  be  more  nearly  the  correct  translation  of 
the  original  Greek.  "  Ye  shall  be  perfect "  is  not  a  command, 
but  is  a  scientific  declaration  of  what  will  result  from  the  abandon- 
ment of  discordant  thinking  to  such  an  extent  as  to  enable  one  to 
love  his  enemies;  i.e.  the  complete  exclusion  of  all  discord  from  the 
mind. 


THE  TEACHING   OF  JESUS  359 

and  best  ethical  teachers  have  never  dared  more 
than  to  hint  at  it  except  as  the  remotest  possibility ; 
but  Jesus  taught  it ;  science  and  philosophy  confirm 
it ;  and  each  Christian  with  humbleness  of  heart  can 
look  up,  take  courage,  and  determine  to  win  it. 
That  this  can  be  accomplished  has  been  made  plain 
again  and  again  in  these  pages.  We  can  love  our 
enemies  only  after  we  have  first  excluded  all  discord- 
ant thinking  about  them;  that  done,  we  can  truly 
love  them;  and  then  we  shall  show  forth  that  we 
are  indeed  our  Father's  children,  as  perfect  as  He 
is  perfect ;   and  that  is  absolute  perfection. 

Wonderful  as  this  perfection  is,  yet  every  precept 
of  Jesus,  the  Christ,  aims  at  nothing  less,  and  each 
of  them  if  complied  with  in  its  completeness  will 
bring  this  result.  That  he  did  not  require  impossi- 
bilities of  us  is  seen  in  the  logical  demonstration 
that  this  seemingly  most  impossible  of  all  his  require- 
ments is  possible  of  attainment.  Indeed,  each  one 
of  his  precepts  which  is  here  considered  may  be 
fulfilled  to  its  ultimate  by  following  his  method  — 
the  exclusion  of  discordant  thinking  from  the  mind. 
Therefore  no  man  need  be  discouraged  by  the  tre- 
mendousness  nor  by  the  sublimity  and  glory  of  the 
object.  Each  may  say  with  supreme  confidence 
and  humility:   "I,  too,  can  master  my  own  mind." 


360  RIGHT   AND  WRONG   THINKING 

No  man  is  working  alone,  for  God  Himself  works 
always  with  him  who  is  seeking  the  right. 

"Ye   therefore   shall   be   perfect,   even   as   your 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.' ' 


XLV 

A  LAST  WORD 

There  is  no  more  fitting  counsel  for  the  close  of 
this  book  than  is  contained  in  the  following  words 
from  The  School  of  Life,  by  William  R.  Alger :  — 

"And  now  there  is  one  more  lesson  for  us  to 
learn,  the  climax  of  all  the  rest ;  namely,  to  make  a 
personal  application  to  ourselves  of  everything  which 
we  know.  Unless  we  master  this  lesson,  and  act 
on  it,  the  other  lessons  are  virtually  useless,  and 
thus  robbed  of  their  essential  glory.  The  only  liv- 
ing end  or  aim  of  everything  we  experience,  of  every 
truth  we  are' taught,  is  the  practical  use  we  make 
of  it  for  the  enrichment  of  the  soul,  the  attuning  of 
the  thoughts  and  passions,  the  exaltation  of  life.  .  .  . 
When  we  do  what  we  know,  then  first  does  it  put 
on  vital  lustre  and  become  divinely  precious." 


361 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

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